64 year old Yuji Horii, creator of the multi-hundred-million selling series Dragon Quest, secretly had an affair 20 years ago with a staff member on the series. Due to Japan's specific infidelity laws, after 5 years of court battles he reached a settlement worth thousands of dollars with his wife and yet they continued on with life as a married couple.
In 2016, he divorced his long-time wife. Last year, he married that same women he had an affair with all those years ago - but did the affair ever end? Horii has finally opened up on the subject in an interview with Japan's Shukan Shincho magazine.
"So it wasn't a '20 year affair.' After that happened, we were together just as friends for a long time. Partners at work without any romantic intentions."
Horii's new wife was credited with various roles over the years, mainly as a tester. Most recently, she was credited in DQIX's 'Special Thanks' section.
Armor Project's exact staff and circumstances are kept relatively private, but Yuji Horii's daughter from his former wife is credited as a member. To make things even more peculiar, his ex-wife is also listed as an employee.
"I honestly didn't want to make anyone sad. There was a kind of indecisiveness.. At least from here on I want to try to do things to make people around me happy. Paying my ex-wife $10m too, that was because I thought maybe it would make her feel even a little less sad. Other people's happiness is your own happiness."
Source (Japanese): https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/article?a=20181107-00551508-shincho-ent
edit: note - I used $10m USD as a shorthand conversion from 1 billion yen.
In 2016, he divorced his long-time wife. Last year, he married that same women he had an affair with all those years ago - but did the affair ever end? Horii has finally opened up on the subject in an interview with Japan's Shukan Shincho magazine.
"So it wasn't a '20 year affair.' After that happened, we were together just as friends for a long time. Partners at work without any romantic intentions."
Horii's new wife was credited with various roles over the years, mainly as a tester. Most recently, she was credited in DQIX's 'Special Thanks' section.
Armor Project's exact staff and circumstances are kept relatively private, but Yuji Horii's daughter from his former wife is credited as a member. To make things even more peculiar, his ex-wife is also listed as an employee.
"I honestly didn't want to make anyone sad. There was a kind of indecisiveness.. At least from here on I want to try to do things to make people around me happy. Paying my ex-wife $10m too, that was because I thought maybe it would make her feel even a little less sad. Other people's happiness is your own happiness."
Source (Japanese): https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/article?a=20181107-00551508-shincho-ent
edit: note - I used $10m USD as a shorthand conversion from 1 billion yen.
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