[2] Takamatsu received a Bachelor of Science in solid-state physics from the University of Tsukuba in 1983,[3] working for Japanese advertising company Dentsu from 1983 – 2005.
[4] In January 2015 Takamatsu began training as an International Space Station spaceflight participant.
[2] Initially he was training to be the backup for the September 2015 Sarah Brightman Soyuz TMA-18M/Soyuz TMA-16M flight.
[5] On May 13, 2015, Brightman announced she had withdrawn from training, making Takamatsu part of the main crew.
[6] Takamatsu declined to take up the option of flying on that flight, as he had planned to carry out art projects while in space, and they would not be ready by the September date.