This year marks the 60th anniversary of the horizontal launch of the Pencil Rocket in 1955, which was the very beginning of Japan’s space development. JAXA will hold a commemorative ceremony and a lecture in cooperation with the city of Kokubunji, where the experiment took place.
http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/whyutokyo/hongo_hi_010.html
http://global.jaxa.jp/article/interview/sp1/index_e.html
