Feb. 8, 2005, may be remembered as a significant day in Japanese business. It was the day one of the market's young Turks launched a controversial and "un-Japanese" takeover bid.

Takafumi Horie, a 32-year-old Internet mogul, stepped into the limelight last year with a bid to enter the professional baseball business. His attempt ended in failure.

But he came back last week, trying to take control of one of the country's biggest established media groups.