Hiroshi Mikitani doesn't mind stepping on a few toes in his quest to win a Nippon Professional Baseball franchise.

In fact, the president of Internet shopping mall company Rakuten Inc. seems to relish jumping up and down on the foot's five phalanges with a pair of lead-soled curb-stompers.

Wednesday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo, Mikitani painted the current batch of NPB owners with an acid-soaked brush, portraying them as corrupt, shameless liars with no qualms about breaking their own rules.

It might seem like biting the hand you want to feed you, but Mikitani seemingly has no appetite for secrecy and deception, standard entrees on the NPB old boys menu.

Saying that he wants to run a ``clean'' franchise with full disclosure, Mikitani, cited commonplace bribery scandals, money-losing teams and the proliferation of bogus information--such as attendance figures--as examples of the problems created by the current cartel of owners, who are widely viewed as ultra-conservative, insular and aloof.

``New blood can turn this industry around,'' he said. ``I'm confident we can change things. We need clean people who don't have any existing ties with the old boys network.''

Mikitani, 39, said that is one of the main reasons he hired American Marty Kuehnert as his general manager. If Rakuten is awarded a franchise, Kuehnert would become the first non-Japanese to hold such a position.

``We would also have full disclosure of club finances,'' Mikitani said. ``We don't know whether other clubs would want to do the same thing and we couldn't control that, but that's what we would do.''

NPB clubs are infamous for claiming laughably inflated attendance figures. As a rule they announce or publish figures that far exceed a ball park's capacity--and expect these figures to be faithfully regurgitated by the media.

``Saying they have 50,000 people in the stadiums ... that's basically bulls--t,'' Mikitani said.

With an MBA from Harvard Business School and a company that he says will turn an 11 billion yen profit this year to back him up, Mikitani says he has an innovative business plan that will allow him to field a competitive team and keep his shirt in the process.

``I've had baseball people tell me that they're losing $20-, 30-, 35 million a year,'' he said. ``Under our plan, it would be very difficult to lose that much.

``I wouldn't go so far as to say you'd have to be stupid to lose that much, but ...''

Rakuten and Internet competitor Livedoor have each applied for an NPB franchise. Both have announced their intention to base the team in Sendai.

The opening for a new franchise was created when the Orix BlueWave and Kintetsu Buffaloes of the Pacific League--huge money losers--announced their intention to merge for the 1995 season.

Livedoor initially offered to buy one of the clubs and keep it afloat, but owners scuttled the idea. They also at first rejected the idea of an ``outsider'' company creating a new franchise. It wasn't until the first players strike in NPB history, a huge outcry from fans across the country and some critical remarks from high-ranking politicians that the owners relented and agreed to the formation of a new franchise.

The two applicants are currently undergoing a ``screening process'' by a panel of NPB representatives. It is expected that a decision will be announced Nov. 2.

It wouldn't appear Mikitani is helping his chances by firing vitriolic verbal broadsides, but it is widely assumed that Rakuten has the inside track.

``I'm confident that my proposal will be approved,'' Mikitani said.(IHT/Asahi: October 28,2004) (10/28)