Maybe I spelled that correctly, I'll have to check.
I think "Torishimariyaku" means board member in Japanese, and I actually was one when I was working for Microsoft. Microsoft, Softbank (owner of Yahoo! Japan and many other web companies), and TEPCO (Tokyo's electric utility and the largest utility company in the world to my knowledge) created a joint venture to provide high speed internet access in Tokyo and other Japanese urban areas. Softbank was going to design the network, hang devices off of TEPCO utlity poles, and pay for everything with Microsoft money (or so I remember it).
Ironically, I became a board member when I was back at Microsoft in the US, not when I was living in Japan. It was fun being a board member, though it didn't last for long. There were two Microsoft board members, myself and Naruke-san, the President of Microsoft Japan at the time (I barely remembered his name, ironically). Softbank had two board members, the guy running the venture (I forget his name, but will remember eventually) and Masayoshi Son, Softbank's Founder and CEO -- a little more Steve Jobs than Bill Gates. TEPCO had two board members, both very old men who didn't say much; they remind me of the guys in the balcony on the Muppet Show. In our first meeting the TEPCO directors complained because Masayoshi Son wasn't wearing socks, and I think a lackey was sent to the nearest 7-11 to solve the crisis.
I got to our first board meeting, was handed a glass of green tea and asked to sign a stack of papers, all in Japanese. Naruke-san, my own Microsoft guy sitting next to me, barely acknowledged me and didn't help translate what I was being asked to sign. So, going with the flow, I signed everything. For all I know, Softbank now owns part of the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. I did ask that in future meetings I be given translated documents to sign. They complied, but even with a law degree I couldn't figure out what the Japanese documents meant. After the signings... everyone left. No discussion. No nothing. I didn't even get to finish my tea.
I got to see a demo showing progress at a later meeting as well, and early the next year I left Microsoft and had to say "goodbye" to my torishimariyaku status (unless one of those Japanese documents had me serving for life). There's no Speednet now in Japan, but Softbank Japan is a big high-speed provider, so maybe something came from it.
Now, in the interest of reliving my own past, here is the article I found on the company's formation.
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Softbank, Microsoft, TEPCO Form Internet Access JV 09/13/99 >BY Martyn Williams
Newsbytes News Network, Sept 14, 1999 by Martyn Williams
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1999 SEP 13 (NB) -- Softbank Corp. [TOKYO:9984], Microsoft Corp. [NASDAQ:MSFT] and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) [TOKYO:9501] have formed a joint venture company that will offer high speed, low cost Internet access services in Japan.
The formation of SpeedNet KK comes a month after the three announced they planned to begin offering Internet access to consumers and small businesses in Tokyo through a wireless network. By employing wireless, the new company will be able to bypass the local lines of NTT East Corp. [TOKYO:9432] and offer a flat rate charge for a 24 hour Internet connection.
Connecting the wireless antennas will be a wireline and fiber optic cable network owned by TEPCO. The electricity utility company already has an extensive fiber optic network and through its electricity supply network has rights of way to almost any location.
SpeedNet KK was established on September 10 with an initial capital of 2.32 billion yen (US$21.87 million) and ownership equally split between the three partners. Executives at the company are drawn from Softbank, TEPCO and Microsoft Japan with the exception of Bruce Ryan, the lone foreigner on the board, who comes from Microsoft Corp.
