SAKURAKO’S ROOM/THE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS No.54 :
Mr.Horie shows up on SAKURAKO’S ROOM/THE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS！
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Takafumi Horie(or Horiemon;his nickname) is a Japanese entrepreneur who founded livedoor, a website-design operation that grew into an internet portal involved in a wide range of businesses. After being arrested on accusations of securities fraud in 2006, he severed all connections with his company. He was granted bail and his trial began September 4, 2006. On March 16, 2007, Horie was sentenced to a 2 years and 6 months imprisonment. more? please click here(wikipedia)
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■First of all — What kind of person is Mr. Horie?
Almost all the information concerning Mr. Horie which I had before this interview is as below:
・He grew up as a only child in the countryside in Kyushu. in his boyhood, he practiced Judo and did newspaper delivery.
・In his school days at Tokyo University, he met internet and founded his first company，On The Edge， getting a personal loan from his girlfriend’s father at that time.
・The first company grew up quite rapidly like a “double-multiplication”
He usually wore no tie, no business suits, even when he appeared on television always wore casual clothes.
He took bashing from mass media for saying “Women follow my money”
・Supported immeasurably by young people as “The child of the age” “Charisma in the IT business”
・He attracted attention by acquisition of a professional baseball team, running for the Lower House, and entry of a space project etc.
・He was arrested for so-called livedoor incident.
Cherry: First of all,
by which name do you want to be called, HORIEMON or Mr. Horie？
Horie: Well…, any name will do.
Cherry: I thought you wouldn’t like to be called HORIEMON from an unfamiliar person.
Horie: Being called so much, I’ve got used to it.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because nobody around me calls me so.
■Personal questions.
Cherry: What’s your favorite color, motto and books?
Horie: I’ve got nothing in particular…
Cherry: What’s the thing you most needed right now?
Horie: You mean what I want? Umm… nothing special…
Cherry: Recently do you have any good news?
Horie: Nothing in particular…, I mean, I usually don’t have so much, but I wish I had.
C: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that!
would be pleased if you would say this interview was the one.
H: Hahaha… (silent laugh…)
C: Hahaha…
■Let’s change the subjects.
c: I imagine you’ve been given so many gifts.
I want to know what was the most expensive one.
H: (struck dumb for a second) …I don’t think I’ve ever been given
so valuable thing from anybody.
C: You seem to have received a gorgeous thing like an island.
It is because you are Mr. Horie.
H: No, I haven’t any…
C: Then, what was the most impressive Christmas present you’ve ever got?
H: (puzzled) I wonder if I had something, … I can’t think of any…
C: Perhaps, …you… are… not… very easy… to stir, …are you?
H: Right, impression is difficult to find. What’s about yourself?
C: I’m full of impressions each day.
H: I think I’m rather difficult to please．
For instance, when I went on a safari in Africa, with my friends,
everybody except me was fascinated.
C: Oh, really, you weren’t’. That was inter.., …oops, What a waste!
You should’ve enjoyed it, for you’d got there from a great distance!
H: What you are saying is right, but what can I do to a thing from
which I can’t derive pleasure? I can’t do anything to it. It’s no use, isn’t it?
C: I…, that’s right. That makes a lot of sense・・・ (dismayed)
H: Watching lions, everyone gave a shriek of delight, like
“Hey, look! Wild lions!” or “The Great African Nature!”or something like that,
but as for myself, I was just standing there immovable.
C: It seems to be a story of the space scale, doesn’t it?
H: I wanna produce a more impressive experience myself like launching a rockets，
rather than go for a space travel.
C: Oh, you’re a natural-born entrepreneur ….
H: I mean, not like an entrepreneur, but as a man,
I feel I can expect a great thrill from an experience of producing rockets that
send astronauts to the universe.
I’d like to make myself such kind of emotional experience.
Yes, that’s what I want. It’s my kind of pleasure.
You know, I’m excited with the experience of the others, as well as mine.
For example, the great achievement of Elon Musk.
This person is knowｎ as a co-founder of PayPal, and as a founder of
a space- transportation firm (SpaceX),
He recently made a successful launch of space rocket, Falcon 1.
It killed me. I said to myself, ”Finally, they made it! Finally, they made it!”
C: So, you are excited by such kind of event that breaks through the human limit?
H: Right.
So-called “Challenge of the Untrod Path” always turns me on.
C: You’ll take any trouble for it?
H: Sure, yet I don’t take it as a trouble.
C: Joy?
H: Yeah.
C: Now, the last two questions.
C: First, this is my regular question that I ask everybody,
so please feel free to answer it.
Please fill in the blank with your own word, “Life is —-.”
H: “Life is—-．”
I don’t know what to say. Um, “Life…is…life!” I don’t know.
C: “Life is life”, the path of life?
H: “Life is —-” I don’t know what it should be．
C: OK, here goes the last one!
“For you, what business stands for, Mr. Horie?”
What does proceeding business activities mean to you?
H: Is the action that I do unconsciously．(instinctively)
C: Wow…
H: I usually find myself working before I know it.
C: That’s nice. In that way you attract money. That’s all.
It was nice talking to you. Thank u very very much！