The Hayabusa probe is slowly closing in on a distant asteroid named Itokawa. Within a few months, after surveying the asteroid thoroughly from a safe distance, Hayabusa will swoop down to its surface and grab samples of the dirt for return to Earth, like a spacefaring bird of prey. In fact, the spacecraft's name comes from the Japanese word for "peregrine falcon." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8131678
The Americans used brute force on their one, The Japs intend to use grace; there's a moral there somewhere.
The Americans were after different data than the Japanese. The budget for the American craft was not as much as was the Japanese. In actuality many countries do many things together today and by splitting up the tasks between countries more can be acomplished that with only one country going it alone. Look at the Martian Rovers, they are still at work doing geological survaying and other types of science gathering things as we speak. No other country has come close to what those rovers are doing today. Just because America is doing something rather harsh to you doesn't mean they are harsh about all of their projects.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has proposed names for some features on the asteroid Itokawa. According to the IAU terrain features larger than about 100 metres should named after gods or international places names. The Hayabusa project team proposes naming the smaller terrain features based on the nicknames referred to by the Joint Science Team analysts. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! <b>Muses Sea:</b> is the smooth terrain and stands for 'MUSES-C', the project code of Hayabusa, at the same time, named after the expanse where the Greek goddesses Muses are. <b>Uchinoura Bay:</b> is a potential crater on Itokawa, named after the Mother port (launch site) of Hayabusa in Kyushu island, Japan. <b>Woomera Desert:</b> is also a potential large crater on Itokawa, named after the intended recovery area of Hayabusa-carried capsule with sample, Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) in Australia, the return port of Hayabusa.