Japan's Hayabusa 2 Heading for Asteroid "Ryugu"

The feat of Hayabusa 1 was a marvel that lives on perpetually in the minds of the Japanese. Its successor, Hayabusa 2, is heading somewhere in space for another asteroid thus far unnamed. JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, announced October 5 its name to be "Ryugu".

Hayabusa 2 is due to reach Ryugu in 2018, collect sands and rocks and return to the earth in 2020 as Urashima Taro in a fairytale brings back his casket from an underwater palace "Ryugu". JAXA selected the name from among 7336 choices, had it screened by the experts committee and approved by the International Astronomical Union which is authorized to decide on naming. The asteroid Ryugu is expected to have water-containing rocks and it was so named. 30 applicants had suggested Ryugu.

For those not familiar with the fairytale in point, a gist of the story might be of some interest.

The Tale of Urashima Taro is a great deal similar to the story of Rip Van Winkle by American author Washington Irving written in 1819. While Van Winkle enjoys his solitary life in the wilderness of the Catskills, Urashima Taro spends his own days underwater at a Palace called Ryugu. As Van Winkle awakes to find his surroundings totally changed, his beard a foot long, his dog Wolf nowhere to be found, Urashima Taro returns ashore, opened the never-to-be-opened casket, and in the dense white smoke rising out of the casket suddenly ages to be a white-haired old man, not a single soul knowing who he is.

A striking difference is that while Van Winkle is portrayed as a henpecked husband, Urashima Taro is entertained to his heart's content by the female owner of the Palace of Ryugu, Princess Otohime, and is in no way henpecked.

Be that as it may, Ryugu is a symbol of magnificence underwater and just the right name for the place for Hayabusa 2 to "visit".