Yusaku Maezawa: irreverent billionaire fascinated by space

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who blasts off for the International Space Station this week, is an irreverent space enthusiast who has made headlines for splashing the cash on modern art.

The 46-year-old tycoon is the founder of Japan's largest online fashion mall and is the country's 30th-richest person, according to business magazine Forbes.

But he is far from the traditional image of a staid Japanese businessman, with more than 10 million people following his Twitter account, its handle a play on his first name: @yousuck2020.

And he's a big spender, particularly when it comes to his twin passions: modern art and space travel.

He hit the headlines in 2017 when he forked out a whopping $110.5 million for Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 painting "Untitled", a skull-like head in oil-stick, acrylic and spray paint on a giant canvas.

It was a record price, but Maezawa insists he is just an "ordinary collector" who buys pieces "simply because they are beautiful".

On December 8, Maezawa will become the first space tourist to travel to the ISS with Russia's space agency Roscosmos since Canadian Guy Laliberte, co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, in 2009.

He will be accompanied on the 12-day mission by his assistant Yozo Hirano, a film producer who will be documenting the journey for Maezawa's YouTube channel and its 754,000 subscribers.

How much Maezawa has spent on his upcoming space adventure is unclear, as the price tag has been kept a secret, though similar trips have cost millions of dollars.

But the cost is unlikely to make much of a dent in the $1.9 billion net worth Maezawa is estimated to have accumulated through his firm Zozo, previously known as Start Today, which operates the hugely popular ZOZOTOWN...