I think you could put India too in the list(maybe soon when it proves it has the capabilities to put a man in space/test a human spacecraft,not now though. But i admire India's space program though, since its plan for human space flight is independent(though with some cooperation from Russia), unlike Japan who even though its more advanced than India in space, still hasnt proven it can launch human missions to space independently, But then again, Japan doesnt need to, since its already a part of ISS and doesnt really need a prestige independent human space launch mission. So though India is looking forward to one, if it does suceed, it will have a little edge over Japan in this field. So you shouldnt belittle India's capabilities as well.
Japan is also involve in some pioneering space launches which other countries havent done yet like its asteriod chasing/sample recovery spacecraft it launched recently(and a similar one it did few years ago). So its indeed interesting to see countries getting more and more involved in space exploration. We need to all jon forces to know more/discover more about our universe. since we havent even scracthed the surface of space exploration.
Its true the U.S is still by far the leading space power. Great going. hope to see this mission come to fruition in coming years, so human can soon fly into deep space and return. This will indeed be a proud/exciting moment for mankind as a whole.
