A Japanese businessman has been considered as a leading candidate to be the next -- and fourth -- private citizen to visit the International Space Station (ISS).

An announcement of Russian Space Agency's website revealed the man's name as Enomoto. According to Kyodo News, it could refer to Japanese investor Daisuke Enomoto, 34, who has been publishing his preparations for a space trip on his website.

Enomoto was an executive at Japan's major Internet company Livedoor Co. and he has already passed a physical and could travel into space next fall, Kyodo said.

The first space tourist was US businessman Dennis Tito, who visited the ISS in 2001. He was followed by Mark Shuttleworth from South Africa and US businessman Gregory Olsen.

If confirmed, Enomoto will be the first Japanese private citizen making a space trip.

Space trips by private citizens have been arranged by Space Adventures Ltd., a US space tourism company working in partnership with the Russian government.

Travelers board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to visit the ISS orbiting around the Earth for a weeklong stay. Expenses, including training, are billed at 20 million US dollars.

Source: Xinhua