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A JAPANESE billionaire is on the hunt for a girlfriend to join him on a pioneering voyage around the Moon.

Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, 44, is seeking single women over the age of 20 to become the "first woman" to fly to the Moon – aboard a private flight in 2023.

Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa is looking for a girlfriend to fly to the Moon with
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Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa is looking for a girlfriend to fly to the Moon withCredit: AFP or licensors

The eccentric entrepreneur's search will be the subject of a new documentary, which will be shown on streaming service AbemaTV.

"As feelings of loneliness and emptiness slowly begin to surge upon me, there's one thing that I think about: Continuing to love one woman," wrote Maezawa on a website for applicants.

"I want to find a 'life partner.' With that future partner of mine, I want to shout our love and world peace from outer space."

Maezawa is due to fly around the moon in 2023 as the first private passenger with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Maezawa set out a list of conditions for applicants
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Maezawa set out a list of conditions for applicantsCredit: AbemaTV
The fashion tycoon shared the image above on Twitter over the weekend
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The fashion tycoon shared the image above on Twitter over the weekendCredit: Twitter

The Tokyo resident, who recently split up from actress girlfriend Ayame Goriki, 27, has said he plans to take artists on the flight to inspire works based on the experience, in a project he dubbed Dear Moon.

The space-love documentary, titled "Full Moon Lovers", will stream on AbemaTV, which is backed by online ad agency CyberAgent and broadcaster TV Asahi.

The site targets a younger audience that is turning away from traditional TV.

Applicants for the show must "be interested in going into space and able to participate in the preparation for it" and "be someone who wishes for world peace", the website states.

Who is Yusaku Maezawa?

Here's what you need to know...

  • The Japanese billionaire is an art collector and entrepreneur with a fashion brand empire.
  • Yusaku, 43, briefly moved to California with a girlfriend aged 18, where he fell in love with American art, music, fashion and culture.
  • He later moved back to his native Chiba Prefecture where he was a passionate skateboarder and a drummer in band, Switch Style.
  • The band was signed by a major label, BMG Japan, in 1998 - but his musical exploits fell away when his businesses took off.
  • In 1995, Yusaku started his first business selling imported CDs and music records.
  • Three year's later he launched the company company Start Today.
  • In 2004, his company opened clothing website Zozotown, and within six years it became a publicly traded company listed by the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
  • Yusaku launched clothing range ZoZo in 2018 in 72 countries around the world.
  • Maezawa is worth an eye-watering £2.4billion, making him Japan's 18th richest person.
  • He is also a keen art dealer, and in May 2017 made a world record purchase of an untitled work by Jean-Michel Basquiat for £84million.

Applications via an close on January 17 and Maezawa will select his partner by the end of March.

Maezawa made his fortune as the founder and chief executive of Zozotown, Japan’s biggest online fashion shop.

He secured a £690million payday last year when he sold the company to SoftBank Group Corp, taking his net worth to £1.5billion.

The kooky billionaire clawed his way to international fame in 2018 when he was named as the first private passenger that will be flown around the moon by Musk's SpaceX.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from a launch site in Florida in 2018
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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from a launch site in Florida in 2018Credit: Reuters

Neither fat cat revealed the price Maezawa paid for his ticket, though Musk admitted it was "a lot of money".

It's not the first attention-grabbing stunt pulled by the billionaire.

Last week, Maezawa pledged to give away nearly £7million in cash to random Twitter users.

He said the move was part of a "social experiment" to see if the payments boosted recipients' happiness.

Last week, Maezawa pledged to give away nearly £7million in cash to random Twitter followers. Pictured is the billionaire's tweet with a Google translation below
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Last week, Maezawa pledged to give away nearly £7million in cash to random Twitter followers. Pictured is the billionaire's tweet with a Google translation belowCredit: Twitter
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What do you think of Maezawa's bonkers dating scheme? Let us know in the comments!

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