SOD Founder Ganari Takahashi Reflects on His Turbulent Past and Quiet Life Today

People enter the SOD headquarters building in Nakano, Tokyo, where giant panels of Soft On Demand (SOD)’s glamorous exclusive actresses line the walls.

They are visitors who made appointments to seek life advice from none other than the company’s head, Ganari Takahashi (66).

“Somehow, my life consultations seem to be more popular than the works themselves. I was wondering if there was something only I could do, and when people started coming to me for advice, I thought, why not give it a shot? Now, three to four people come every week without fail. There are folks out there who actually enjoy listening to my nonsensical stories. You see, competent people always speak in sound logic, right? But people struggle in life because they can’t follow that logic. So, I figured I’d create a form of logic tailored to each person. Because the right answer is different for everyone.”

For the first part of this story: “The Tumultuous Revolutionary! SOD Founder Ganari Takahashi — “I Didn’t Even Like AV and Had Never Watched It”.

Quitting “SOD” and going into farming

In the fall of 2001, an unusual late-night TV program called Money no Tora (Nippon TV) began airing. Aspiring entrepreneurs would give presentations to obtain funding to start businesses, while businesspeople on the investor side would relentlessly point out their naïveté and weaknesses. The serious, no-holds-barred exchanges gained a reputation, and Money no Tora, which started as a late-night program, moved to a prime-time slot.

The business people on the investor side were called tigers, and Ganari became a media darling. Among the tigers, Ganari’s investment amounts were overwhelmingly large.

“Because the other tigers didn’t actually have any money,” he laughed.

That was the reality of Money no Tora.

As a result of the program’s influence, Ganari’s name became widely known. But he wasn’t the type of man to be satisfied with just that.

In 2005, he resigned as president of Soft On Demand, and the following year, in 2006, he opened a preparatory office for Kunitachi Farm and became its president. He set out to pursue agriculture, which he had long desired to do.

At the end of 2006, a lavish hotel venue was filled with popular AV actresses in revealing dresses and AV directors wearing unfamiliar tuxedos. It was Soft On Demand’s grand year-end party.

There, Ganari, who had switched to agriculture, made a rare appearance.

“I was out in the fields pulling daikon radishes earlier today,”

the man said quietly, with a scruffy beard on his face and a towel around his neck, having just come from farm work. Ganari had completely taken on the role of a farmer.

“At the time, I was fired up, determined to change Japanese agriculture. But in the end, it was a complete failure. I realized later I had gotten carried away.”

In agriculture, year after year, the same crops are cultivated and harvested on the same land. It inevitably breeds stubborn conservatism.

“The biggest reason I withdrew from farming was that I just didn’t mesh with farmers. I honestly hate farmers. Ninety-nine point nine percent of them. It’s an emotional thing at this point. Farmers care only about themselves, they hate reform, and always find reasons not to change. So I decided to withdraw from agriculture entirely. I even gave away the vegetable restaurant Nōka no Daidokoro I had established to my employees.”

Peaceful days are boring

Having gained both money and fame, for Ganari, living peaceful days without creating any more unnecessary trouble, together with his family and employees, should have been the shortest path to happiness.

“But honestly, I just want to die soon. Lately, I’ve realized something dangerous — when I’m alone, I catch myself saying things like, ‘Ah, this is so boring.’ In the past, I’d unconsciously mutter things like, ‘Let’s go, let’s do this.’ But these days, it’s more like, ‘Ah, boring’”

Having survived countless crises, Ganari could no longer feel alive from ordinary things.

“No one in the (AV) industry bullies me anymore, the police don’t come, no yakuza either. There’s no thrill left at all. The only thing that comes my way now are interview requests. And that’s just boring. Back then, when the cops showed up or the yakuza came by, man, I’d get excited.”

At one point, due to business dealings, a Chinese mafia group tried to intimidate him. Illegally parked cars lined up in front of his company to threaten him.

“But you know what? At times like that, I’d get this excited feeling, like, ‘I wonder how I’ll handle this one.’ When you find trouble amusing, you stay calm and can come up with a solution. If you’re scared, you panic and can’t think straight. The reason I can stay calm is because back in the day, under (Teruyuki) Ito, I crossed plenty of dangerous bridges.”

The writer has been following the ups and downs of Ganari Takahashi’s life for over 30 years. The man who once staked his body and reputation now finds himself in a kind of warrior’s rest.

Once a week, he visits the head office of the company he founded, SOD, to offer life advice to lost souls. It’s precisely because this man has walked life’s razor’s edge that people cling to his counsel.

And even while offering life advice, Ganari hasn’t forgotten about AV, his ground zero.

“If you’ve decided to become an AV actress, I want you to work with confidence as a professional. It took me three years before I could proudly say, ‘I make my living in AV.’ I tell those girls, ‘Give it your absolute all!’ And what does that mean? It means 100 shots of semen. Sure, people might say, ‘Wait, you tell them to live to the fullest, and then make them swallow 100 shots of semen? That’s a little’ I get that. But it’s the same as that segment where Junji Inagawa was made to swim in a pool with 1,000 snakes. If you want to be a comedian, you have to make people laugh. Ideally, you’d do it by just talking, but when you’re young, you’ve got no choice but to put your body on the line. It’s the same thing. At any rate, being needed by others is a good thing.”

Healing others, and in turn healing yourself.

The number of men and women whose lives have been saved by Ganari’s life advice continues to grow even now. His smile has mellowed or so it seems — but his eyes aren’t smiling.

He’s got his sights set on the next thing. That’s for sure.

Unpublished Cut: Ganari Takahashi [Founder of Soft-On-Demand] – The Turbulent Revolutionary: Special Long Interview

From the April 25th and May 2nd, 2025, combined issue of “FRIDAY”