On July 13, an unknown person sent a very interesting email to the more than 1,000 employees at Tokyo-based insurance company Hoken Minaoshi Honpo.
Files attached to the messages contained images of the president of the firm, Hiroshi Otani, 48, visiting a ‘happening bar‘ in the Ueno area of Taito Ward, accompanied by a number of women. (For the uninitiated, such an establishment is one in which all inhibitions for erotic activities are checked at the door.)
The photographs reprinted in weekly tabloid Friday (Sept. 5) show the president walking along Kasuga-dori on at least two occasions in May with a woman who, for the sake of simplicity, will be known as Mistress #1.
“When I saw the pictures, I knew immediately that it was the president and Mistress #1,” a current employee tells the magazine. “She is a single employee in her 30s, and their relationship was widely known within the company. It began about five years ago. They’d head off to such places” — i.e. a happening bar — “even in the daytime.”
A former employee tells the magazine about the existence of Mistress #2, a woman in her 20s who worked at the company until recently.
“He started with her about three years ago,” says the source. “On his desk, he’s got energy drinks that boost stamina lined up.”
For Otani, who assumed the role of president in 2004, the need for such beverages is not surprising.
“He said he gets really turned by feelings of jealousy when he sees his girlfriend being handled by other men,” says the former employee. “So at the happening bar (in Ueno) he’d coerce her into getting it on with multiple guys, a total of four if you count him.”
The bar is not named in the article but a quick Internet search reveals it to be Dark Night, which operates on a members-only policy.
The article also mentions a company trip to Okinawa whose intention was for training. At a party, many of the insurance ladies with nice bodies, including Mistress #2, arrived attired in revealing costumes for a samba routine.
As well, Otani, who is married with a child, took the role of director for a short movie in which Mistress #1 appears. But each evening of the trip was spent with Mistress #2, whose car and apartment in Tokyo had been taken care of by the president, according to the magazine.
However, the employment of Mistress #2 at Hoken Minaoshi Honpo came to an abrupt end after she found out about Mistress #1.
After the images were leaked to the company’s employees in July, Otani issued a response in which he said he would not “make an excuse” for his actions. “After discussing the matter with lawyers and others, I’ll take a position and assume responsibility,” he wrote.
When confronted in the street one afternoon by Friday after he emerged from his high-end Lexus sedan, the president became agitated. “Stop it!” he shouted. “Why are you taking photographs?” He then jumped back into his car and zoomed off.
A current employee finds Otani’s response to be insufficient.
“He said he would take responsibility,” says the employee, “but several days later he said he wouldn’t quit. As well, the representative director said it is in fact the person who leaked the images who should take responsibility. I cannot work for such a disgusting president.” (A.T.)
Source: “Furin shashin wo zensha ni bara makareta yumei shacho ga !” Friday (Sept. 5, pages 8-9)