Yoshito Hori

Yoshito Hori was born in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture on March 28, 1962. Hori spent most of his early youth at Tōkai, Ibaraki where his father worked as a nuclear researcher. At age 3 he moved to New York in the United States with his family. About 2 years later his family moved to Michigan. Hori moved back to Japan during the second grade of elementary school. Around the end of sixth grade his family relocated to Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Hori attended Ibaraki Prefectural Mito First High School (茨城県立水戸第一高等学校・附属中学校, Ibaraki Kenritsu Mito Daiichi Kōtōgakkō Fusoku Chūgakkō) in his hometown of Mito, which he graduated in 1981. After high school he entered Kyoto University where he completed a BSc in Engineering in 1986.

Hori started his career at Sumitomo Corporation in 1986 where he was in charge of new business development and foreign trade of production-plant facilities. He was able to secure sponsorship from his employer in 1989 to study at Harvard Business School. While studying at Harvard Business School, Hori was highly influenced by his classmates in deciding to pursue entrepreneurship. He observed how the US provided a fertile business environment for start-ups. Hori set out to replicate a similar environment in Japan by creating an ecosystem of knowledge, people and capital.

Hori obtained his MBA in 1991. He left Sumitomo in 1992 to start his own business.

Local development

Hori has been an ambassador for Ibaraki Prefecture (いばらき大使, ibaraki taishi) from 2011. When Hori visited Mito in August 2015 for a high school swimming team reunion, he was shocked by the decline of the town he grew up in. This led him to launch the Mito Downtown Revitalization Project (水戸ど真ん中再生プロジェクト, mito donmannaka saisei purojekuto), a public-private initiative to revive the local area economically through tourism and other initiatives in February 2016. Hori's first initiative was to purchase the Ibaraki Robots basketball team in April 2016. The team was promoted to the Japanese B1 League division in 2021. In 2019, Hori became the majority owner of LuckyFM Ibaraki Broadcasting System, the only local radio station in Ibaraki Prefecture. The scope of the radio station was expanded to internet media. IBS, the nickname of the radio station was changed to LuckyFM on April 1, 2021, a playful reference to Ibaraki.

Following the departure announcement of Rock in Japan Festival from Hitachi Seaside Park in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki early 2022, Hori decided to create a new music festival organized by LuckyFM at the vacated location, with himself as self-appointed festival producer. A crowdfunding campaign for the new festival raised over ¥30 million yen on ReadyFor by April 2022. LuckyFM Green Festival or LuckyFes in short was held for the first time on July 23–24, 2022.

Hori is married and has 5 sons.

Kibow Foundation

Just days after the destruction of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Hori together with other young entrepreneurs launched Project Kibow to help in the efforts to support and rebuild disaster-affected areas. The word Kibow is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for hope (希望, kibō) and bow (ボー, bō), derived from rainbow, signifying "a bridge between Japan and the rest of the world". In half a year the project raised ¥99 million yen in donations. Project Kibow was incorporated as the Kibow Foundation early 2012. In 2013, Hori was named a Young Presidents’ Organization Global Impact Project honoree for his efforts. In 2015 the Kibow Impact Investment Fund with a net value of ¥500 million yen was raised to support social entrepreneurship.

Nuclear power

Hori has asserted a pro-nuclear opinion following the Fukushima nuclear accident. Hori is positive on renewable energy but argues a stable and reliable energy supply cannot be achieved in Japan without nuclear power. He contends abandoning nuclear power would prompt manufacturers to offshore production, resulting in severe damage to the Japanese economy. Hori has stated ensuring nuclear power plant safety as a key requirement for restarting nuclear reactors.

In 2011 Hori got into a heated argument on Twitter with Softbank’s Masayoshi Son who he accused of being a "businessman with political contacts" (政商, seishō) for using the nuclear power phase-out argument to boost Softbank’s solar power business. In response, Son called Hori out for being a pro-nuclear activist and challenged him to a thorough discussion (トコトン議論, tokoton giron). The pair eventually agreed to a one-on-one public debate on nuclear power on August 5, 2011 which lasted over 3 hours and was livestreamed on Nico Nico Douga (ニコニコ動画, niko niko dōga) (current Niconico). The debate ended amicably. Son declared he would not take any revenue or dividends from his solar power business for at least 40 years. In response Hori withdrew his earlier accusations. Hori lauded the discussion as a win for Japanese citizens in terms of drawing public interest to Japan’s energy policy.