In a country of drones, Takafumi Horie was a genius. At a time when most of his classmates at university were dreaming of joining large companies and working(following their bosses orders, never rocking the boat, sustaining the uninnovative life employment system), Horie saw an opportunity for riches. Around the time internet businesses were taking off in America, Horie dropped out of college and founded Livedoor. He worked hard to exploit a market that most Japanese companies were simply ignoring and built an empire.

Unfortunately, Horie’s aggressive and direct business style made many enemies in Japan. It was only a matter of time before somebody dug up some sort of illegal activity by Horie and Livedoor. In January Horie was arrested and charged with crimes that are likely standard practices in the Japanese business world. This is his sad fate, as reported by WaiWai:

Fallen Horiemon’s new digs — 3 tatami mats with bento and butt service

In a land where even close friends address each other with the honorific “san,” it spoke bucket loads that Takafumi Horie was so popular, and many felt such familiarity with him, that he was almost universally known by his nickname of Horiemon.But now, Shukan Post (2/10) notes, the disgraced former CEO of Livedoor Co. will be called only by the four-digit number assigned to him while he bides his time inside the Tokyo Detention Center awaiting trial on a charge of breaking the Securities and Exchange Law.As if being shunted out of his job wasn’t already bad enough, he has little to look forward to behind bars, as he is shoved away in a tiny cell, fed only bland foods and, perhaps most horrifyingly, receives regular anal probes.”As soon as he walked into the center, there would have been a guard barking out questions about his personal details like name and date of birth. Then, he’d have to hand over his wallet, mobile phone and anything else in his possession. After that, he’d go for a physical, where they check his height, weight, blood pressure and eyesight,” an ex-con who spent several months in the detention center tells Shukan Pos before explaining why he feels that Horiemon is going to find the slammer a real pain in the ass. “Following the physical, he’ll be told to strip naked and the anal inspection awaits him. A guard will approach him, order him to face the opposite direction and bend over while spreading his bottom cheeks. It’s awful.”

Horie’s cell has an area of about three tatami mats, or some 9 square meters. It contains a toilet and sink. There is a window, but the special reinforced glass is opaque and he won’t be able to see the sky. It’s a far cry from the 2.2 million yen per month, 40-mat room with its glorious view of Tokyo Tower that he had been used to living in posh Roppongi Hills.

Fortunately for Horiemon in this chilliest winter in decades, his cell has heating c sort of. Central air conditioning keeps the cell temperature at a bearable 19 degrees Celsius, but only from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. It could have been worse. Until refurbishments carried out two years ago, the cells had no artificial warmth.

Gourmand Horie will hardly be looking forward to meal times in the clink.

“The staple is a mixed of 30 percent wheat and 70 percent white rice served with a couple of main dishes. Those on remand have a daily calorie allocation of 2,200,” a spokesman from the Ministry of Justice’s Corrections Bureau tells Shukan Post.

Remand inmates like Horie are allowed to buy their own food, but the only menu selection available to them are tacky lunchboxes like those rolled out in convenience stores. He can buy chocolates, caramels or canned sausages or chicken.

One of the few pleasures inmates can look forward to behind bars are presents from visitors. But Horie’s buddies from Roppongi Hills have stayed well away from the detention center since his Jan. 23 arrest. His old colleagues are even colder.

“Our company has not given him a thing,” a Livedoor spokesman tells Shukan Post. “And the company has no intention of giving him anything from now on, either.”

Compounding Horie’s misery are the hours the notorious night owl will have to keep in Kosuge, the district where the detention center is situated. He’ll be made to wake up at 7 every morning, then go to sleep at 9 each night. Not that the hours will matter much, because he’ll probably spend nearly all day in the center’s “investigation rooms,” where cops will be grilling him about the allegations against him. On occasion, question sessions can run through to 10 or 11 at night.

Exercise, probably not a high priority for the podgy Horie on the outside, may become a haven during the three sessions he’s permitted weekly. But he wouldn’t want to exert himself too much, as inmates are only permitted two baths a week, and even then must be finished within 15 minutes.

Of course, the Internet is banned inside, but Horiemon will be able to buy magazines and newspapers. They will, however, be subjected to censorship and will be a few editions out of date by the time he can buy them.

“Horie is a regular person accused of a first offense. He won’t be able to talk to a single soul but his lawyer and the cops who are questioning him,” the ex-inmate tells Shukan Post. “He’s got to do that for at least 10 days, which would probably go close to driving him mad.” (By Ryann Connell)

January 31, 2006, Mainichi Daily News WaiWai

Oh Horie! You silly guy, you!