An aerospace-focused home-stay program for elementary school students has revitalized the small town in Kagoshima Prefecture that hosts Japan's space program, drawing children from across the nation to an area where depopulation has skewed demographics heavily toward the elderly.

With a population of around 6,000, Minamitane on Tanegashima Island began the program in 1996 to boost the economy and increase the population of school-age children.

Under the program, children from the second to sixth grades stay at local homes for a year to experience aspects of the space program, watching liftoffs at the Tanegashima Space Center and participating in experiments conducted by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which runs the space center.