JAXA has multiple launch vehicle tracking stations as the facilities to send and receive signals to and from the launched rockets until the satellites are detached from them, including one in Christmas Island, Kiribati. For the Christmas tracking station, JAXA has been concluding two agreements with the government of Kiribati.

KIKUCHI Eiko serves as a contact for negotiations with the government of Kiribati. She says, "One of the agreements was concluded to rent land for the tracking station and the other one was concluded to secure the means for the transportation of people and goods to the Island. The local situation has been changing year by year, such as rises in commodity prices and the improvement of the local infrastructure and equipment. We therefore negotiate with the government basically every year to update the agreements." MIMURA Kotomi is also engaged in the negotiations. She adds, "Because we negotiate with the government, it is something like diplomatic negotiations." The Christmas tracking station was established in 1976 when the Island was still under the rule of the United Kingdom. Subsequently, Kiribati became independent from the UK, but JAXA has been continuing to operate the station there. For the reasons why JAXA has been able to update the agreements so long, KIKUCHI explains, "We made detailed explanations about the usage to the government of Kiribati. Based on the understanding of cultural differences, our predecessors have built up the relations of trust with officials of the government, sometimes dining together with them."

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the negotiations had been made in Honolulu, which is located in between Kiribati and Japan. However, since fiscal 2020, the negotiations have been made online due to the pandemic. "The local communication infrastructure was unstable, and we repeated tests to ensure that we could communicate with the government side by phone and other online methods. I was excited when we were finally able to talk with officials of the government online," says MIMURA, looking back on that time. It was difficult to understand the feelings of others online, but online meetings could be held more smoothly than offline ones, which is an advantage, according to MIMURA. "By adopting online communication methods, we can reduce the burden imposed on us when organizing meetings and making negotiations. Going forward, we will therefore make use of both face-to-face and online meetings to make negotiations and build better relationships with the government of Kiribati," continues MIMURA. They will support the launch of rockets by making use of the experience gained through the negotiations, which they made in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.

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