To some he is a hero. To others an anathema. For this writer, who lives in trepidation of meeting with Japanese CEOs because (sorry guys) they tend to be so predictable, Sachio Semmoto is a breath of fresh air.

Bouncing into the meeting room, he rolls up his sleeves, then extends his hand in disarming fashion. "Well now," he says, leaning back and stretching to get comfortable, "what do you want to know?"

It has taken time to organize this meeting. His schedule is so subject to sudden change that I had almost given up. But he's frantic because he's hot -- in news terms, that is! Making waves in Japan's all-powerful telecommunications industry as no other has ever dared.

Sachio is president and CEO of eAccess, the company he founded in 1999 to offer high-speed ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) service hookups to consumers keen to make use of the Internet but held back by monopolistic practices. "This country has 126 million people and less than 10,000 ADSL subscribers. Who's to blame? NTT."

In the 1970s, he worked for NTT, where he played a vital role in developing the world's first digital phone service, one of the earliest manifestations of ADSL. "With NTT a monopoly, customers were getting a raw deal. It's a bit better now, but not much."

In 1984 he broke away to form DDI, Japan's first private telephone company. Consumers were delighted to have some choice; NTT's management was less than amused. "I had to work hard -- thump a lot of tables -- to help change the law to allow competition. With society moving towards an e-economy, Japan needs Internet-focused companies. Yet still there are few entrepreneurial moves to open things up."

The number of "telcos" here remains a fraction of those in the U.S.

"Our market's worth 13 trillion yen, but it won't grow unless we lower fees. For that, we need competition." Which is why, having coestablished DDI and seen sales grow to $5 billion after the seven years he was senior vice president, he shocked that management also with his resignation. (DDI went on to become a $14 billion company after merging with KDD.)

"I joined forces with Eric Gan, former managing director of Goldman Sachs Japan, and now our chief operating officer," he says. "Eric is an investor in eAccess, along with Morgan Stanley's Dean Witter. We began with 15 founding members, all committed entrepreneurs. No, we're not in profit yet, but that's to be expected."

The economy may be slowing down, but broadband Internet is booming. "Right now we're investing in talent. March we had 100 part-timers and 150 full-time staff. April 1st we hired 50 new young graduates from top universities. We're always on the lookout."

He believes the younger generation needs concrete role models. "They need to see that anyone, even someone stupid, can effect change, make good."

Asked why he is so different, why he fights the corporate mainstream with such tenacity, Sachio looks thoughtful. "I'm exceptionally global for a Japanese. I've always been socially orientated, networking, seeking coexistence." His time in the United States -- doing a master's in electrical engineering -- also had a major impact. "I learned a new set of values: fair competition, the importance of taking risks."

There are also religions convictions. "There's no Christian tradition in my family. I became interested through a roommate in the States, the son of a Southern Baptist pastor. But in this I'm not so unusual. You'd be surprised at the number of Japanese Christians in positions of influence and authority."

Young at 57, Sachio Semmoto was a student in the 1960s, studying electronics at Kyoto University and active in leftwing politics. Joining NTT seemed a good idea at the time. With 300,000 staffers, it ranked as one of the largest and forward-thinking monopolies in the world. "But like IBM in the 1960s, it's not as sharp as it was."

Seeing how fast the U.S. was changing, he decided he had to break NTT's hold on the industry. The promise of promotion was tempting, offering fame and security. But he could see the U.S. catching up, that IT would be fast-growing. So he quit and set up in competition. "Overnight my friends became my enemies."

None of his peers could understand his decision, nor the decisiveness of his action. "I was regarded as a traitor." It's to his credit that he still views NTT positively, describing the company as having "a nice quality, with a great group of people." He can meet with NTT executives who hate his guts but still communicate well.

He now thinks of DDI as equally inefficient and narrow. "They can only see today and yesterday. I see tomorrow, next year. The telephone system is dead. From now on, all telecommunications will be broadband-orientated."

What stands in eAccess' way of moving ahead with speed remains NTT, which while unable by law to block access to local lines, subversively takes its time about it. "We've pushed them up from four months to six weeks. In the meantime, they're promoting their own retaliatory ADSL company started at the turn of the year. It's a battle."

While Eric Gan is committed to putting eAccess into the black by 2001, Sachio Semmoto sees his job as being to hammer away at NTT. "I want it to free its unused networks for other carriers. To come clean on how it charges for services; disclosures of inflated prices will help reduce consumers' bills. Also the full breakup of its holding company to boost competition and lower prices."

As if not busy enough, this one-time professor of entrepreneurial management at Keio University (and also a lecturer at Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge Business Schools) now teaches at Berkeley in California. "I leave Friday evening, lecture Saturday, and am on the first flight back Sunday morning. I love teaching, but here it's too slow and pedantic. My body clock? Don't ask."

He believes as much in an aggressive lifestyle as aggressive startups: "To take off like a jumbo, you need a lot of fuel." But he tries to keep his life in balance by ensuring at least 3 percent of his activities are nonprofit-related. "I'm working by 6-8 a.m., but take lots of exercise.

Luckily his wife stands behind his every move. "She always says, 'If that's what you want to do.' As a result, life is a mixture of joy and agony, but really I wouldn't want it any other way."