In March 2014, Koichi Wakata became the first Japanese Commander of the ISS, Expedition 39.  Japan has many experiments on the Kibo module, including an external platform.  Koichi is an experienced astronaut, flying 4 shuttle  and 2 ISS missions.

Koichi provides a weekly video report (right).

Koichi is the on-orbit lead for Windows on Earth, and has taken some spectacular photos of Japan at night (below)

For more about Koichi:

               Wkipedia

               Twitter (@Astro_Koichi)

               JAXA (Japanese Space Agency)