Japanese launch vehicle technology has reached the global highest level by recent successful launches; therefore, we are now progressing from the catching‐up phase to the new phase. Japanese own technologies shall be improved further under the long‐term strategy for the future transportation system research and development. This paper reports the current status of our space transportation systems such as H‐IIA and M‐V, and the road map for the future space transportation systems. © 2004 American Institute of Physics