Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency was established on the 1st of October 2003. This entity resulted from the merger of three previously independent organizations including the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the National Aerospace Laboratory, and the National Space Development Agency.
JAXA operates the H-IIA rocket which successfully launched 48 of its 49 attempts before retiring on Flight No. 50 as of June 2025. The agency also began operating the H3 in 2023 using an expander bleed cycle for the first stage engine globally.
JAXA sent Hayabusa to collect samples from asteroid 25143 Itokawa returning them to Earth on the 13th of June 2010. The SLIM lander achieved a soft landing on the 19th of January 2024 making Japan the fifth country to achieve this feat with pinpoint accuracy.
Japan has ten astronauts but has not yet developed its own crewed spacecraft officially. These astronauts fly on international partners including Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS or participate in NASA Space Shuttle missions like STS-47.
The Basic Space Law shifted jurisdiction from MEXT to the Strategic Headquarters for Space Development in the Cabinet in 2008. Political control moved further to the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office through a new Space Strategy Office by January 2017.