Shintaro Ishihara

Shintarō Ishihara
石原 慎太郎

Shintaro Ishihara in 2006
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
2012–2014
Constituency Tokyo PR block
In office
1972–1995
Constituency Tokyo 2nd district
Governor of Tokyo
In office
April 23, 1999 – October 31, 2012
Preceded by Yukio Aoshima
Succeeded by Naoki Inose
Member of the House of Councillors
In office
1968–1972
Personal details
Born (1932-09-30) 30 September 1932
Suma-ku, Kobe, Japan
Political party Liberal Democratic (1968–1995)
Independent (1995–2012)
Sunrise (2012)
Japan Restoration (2012–2014)
Future Generations (2014)
Spouse(s) Noriko Ishihara
Children 4 sons
Alma mater Hitotsubashi University
Profession Novelist, author

Shintaro Ishihara (石原 慎太郎, Ishihara Shintarō, born 30 September 1932) is a Japanese politician and author who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012.

His arts career included a prize-winning novel, best-sellers and work also in theater, film and journalism. His 1989 book, The Japan That Can Say No, co-authored with Sony chairman Akio Morita (1991 in English), called on the authors' countrymen to stand up to the United States.

After an early career in the arts, he served for more than 25 years in Parliament, leaving after the Tokyo subway attack in 1995. He subsequently served as Governor of Tokyo from April 1999 to October 2012, resigning to briefly co-lead the Sunrise Party, and then the Japan Restoration Party. He was elected to the Japanese lower house in the 2012 general election[1] and unsuccessfully sought re-election in November 2014; he officially left politics the following month.[2]

Early life and artistic career

Shintaro Ishihara was born in Suma-ku, Kobe. His father Kiyoshi was an employee, later a general manager, of a shipping company. Shintaro grew up in Zushi, Kanagawa. In 1952, he entered Hitotsubashi University, and he graduated in 1956. Just two months before graduation, Ishihara won the Akutagawa Prize (Japan's most prestigious literary prize) for the novel Season of the Sun.[3][4] His brother Yujiro played a supporting role in the movie adaptation of the novel (for which Shintaro wrote the screenplay), and the two soon became the center of a youth-oriented cult.[5] Ishihara had dabbled in directing a couple of films starring his brother. Regarding these early years as a filmmaker, he stated to a Playboy interviewer in 1990 that "If I had remained a movie director, I can assure you that I would have at least become a better one than Akira Kurosawa".[6][7]

In the early 1960s, he concentrated on writing, including plays, novels, and a musical version of Treasure Island. One of his later novels, Lost Country (1982), speculated about Japan under the control of the Soviet Union.[8] He also ran a theatre company, and found time to visit the North Pole, race his yacht The Contessa and cross South America on a motorcycle. He wrote a memoir of his journey, Nanbei Odan Ichiman Kiro.[9]

From 1966 to 1967, he covered the Vietnam War at the request of Yomiuri Shimbun. The experience influenced his decision to enter politics.[10]

Political career

In 1968, Ishihara ran as a candidate on the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) national slate for the House of Councillors. He placed first on the LDP list with an unprecedented 3 million votes.[11] After four years in the upper house, Ishihara ran for the House of Representatives representing the second district of Tokyo, and again won election.

Ishihara (lower) with writer Yukio Mishima in 1956

In 1973, he joined with thirty other LDP lawmakers in the anti-communist Seirankai or "Blue Storm Group"; the group gained notoriety for sealing a pledge of unity in their own blood.[5]

Ishihara ran for Governor of Tokyo in 1975 but lost to the popular Socialist incumbent Ryokichi Minobe. Minobe was 71 at the time, and Ishihara criticized him as being "too old".[12]

Ishihara returned to the House of Representatives afterward, and worked his way up the party's internal ladder, serving as Director-General of the Environment Agency under Takeo Fukuda (1976) and Minister of Transport under Noboru Takeshita (1989). During the 1980s, Ishihara was a highly visible and popular LDP figure, but unable to win enough internal support to form a true faction and move up the national political ladder.[13] In 1983 his campaign manager put up stickers throughout Tokyo stating that Ishihara's political opponent was an immigrant from North Korea. Ishihara denied that this was discrimination, saying that the public had a right to know.[14]

In 1989, shortly after losing a highly contested race for the party presidency, Ishihara came to the attention of the West through his book The Japan That Can Say No, co-authored with Sony chairman Akio Morita. The book called on his fellow countrymen to stand up to the United States.

According to politician Kōichi Hamada, Ishihara gave financial and political support to Aum Shinrikyo, a religious cult that was involved in several murders and assassination attempts during the early 1990s.[15] Immediately after the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, Ishihara dropped out of national politics, suddenly ending a 25-year career in the Diet.

In 1999, he ran on an independent platform and was elected as Governor of Tokyo.

On October 25, 2012, Ishihara announced he would resign as Governor of Tokyo in order to form a new political party in preparation for upcoming national elections.[16] Following his announcement, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly approved his resignation on October 31, 2012, officially ending his tenure as Governor of Tokyo for 4,941 days, the second-longest term after Shunichi Suzuki.

Sunrise Party

Ishihara's new national party was expected to be formed with members of the right-wing Sunrise Party of Japan, which he had helped to set up in 2010.[12] When announced by co-leaders Ishihara and SPJ chief Takeo Hiranuma on November 13, 2012, Sunrise Party incorporated all five members of SPJ. SP would look to form a coalition with other small parties including Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's Japan Restoration Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai).[17]

In November 2012, Ishihara and his co-leader Hiranuma said that the Sunrise Party would pursue "establishment of an independent Constitution, beefing up of Japan's defense capabilities, and fundamental reform of fiscal management and tax systems to make them more transparent". The future of nuclear power and the upcoming consumption tax hike were issues it would have to address with potential coalition partners.[17]

Sunrise Party merger with the Japan Restoration Party

Only four days after the Sunrise Party was launched, on November 17, 2012 Ishihara and Tōru Hashimoto, leader of the Japan Restoration Party (JRP), decided to merge their parties, with Ishihara becoming the head of the JRP. Your Party would not join the party, nor would Genzei Nippon, as the latter party's anti-consumption tax increase policy did not match the JRP's pro-consumption tax policy.[18]

Reporting on a poll in early December 2012, Asahi Shimbun characterized the merger with Japan Restoration Party as the latter having "swallowed up" Sunrise. The poll, in advance of the December 16 Lower House elections, also said the association with SP could hurt JRP's chances of forming a ruling coalition even though JRP was showing strength relative to the ruling DPJ.[19]

Party for Future Generations

In the December 2014 general elections he was a candidate for the Party for Future Generations, but was defeated. Following this, he retired from politics.

Political views

Ishihara is generally described as one of Japan's most prominent "far right" politicians.[20] He was called "Japan's Le Pen" on a program broadcast on Australia's ABC.[21]

Ishihara is affiliated with the openly revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi.[22]

Policies as governor

Among Ishihara's moves as governor, he:

Foreign relations

Ishihara is a long term friend of the prominent Aquino family in the Philippines. He is credited as being the first person to inform future President Corazon Aquino about the assassination of her husband Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. on August 21, 1983.

Ishihara has often been critical of Japan's foreign policy as being non-assertive. Regarding Japan's relationship with the US, he stated that "The country I dislike most in terms of US–Japan ties is Japan, because it's a country that can't assert itself."[13] As part of the criticism, Ishihara published a book co-authored with then-Prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, titled "No" to ieru Ajia – tai Oubei e no hōsaku in 1994.[31]

Ishihara has also long been critical of the Chinese government. He invited the Dalai Lama and the President of the Republic of China Lee Teng-hui to Tokyo.[8]

Ishihara is deeply interested in the North Korean abduction issue, and called for economic sanctions against North Korea.[32] Following Ishihara's campaign to bid Tokyo for the 2016 Summer Olympics, he eased his criticism of the Chinese government. He accepted an invitation to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was selected as a torch-bearer for the Japan leg of the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay.[33]

Views on foreigners in Japan

On April 9, 2000, in a speech before a Self-Defense Forces group, Ishihara publicly stated that atrocious crimes have been committed repeatedly by illegally entered sangokujin (Japanese: 三国人 (third country national); a term commonly viewed as derogatory) and foreigners, and speculated that in the event a natural disaster struck the Tokyo area, they would be likely to cause civil disorder.[34] His comment invoked calls for his resignation, demands for an apology and fears among residents of Korean descent in Japan.[8] Regarding this statement, Ishihara later said:

I referred to the "many sangokujin who entered Japan illegally." I thought some people would not know that word so I paraphrased it and used gaikokujin, or foreigners. But it was a newspaper holiday so the news agencies consciously picked up the sangokujin part, causing the problem.

... After World War II, when Japan lost, the Chinese of Taiwanese origin and people from the Korean Peninsula persecuted, robbed and sometimes beat up Japanese. It's at that time the word was used, so it was not derogatory. Rather we were afraid of them.

... There's no need for an apology. I was surprised that there was a big reaction to my speech. In order not to cause any misunderstanding, I decided I will no longer use that word. It is regrettable that the word was interpreted in the way it was.[13]

Much of the criticism of this statement involved the historical significance of the term: sangokujin historically referred to ethnic Chinese and Koreans, working in Japan, several thousand of whom were killed by mobs of Japanese people following the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923.[8]

On February 20, 2006, Ishihara also said: "Roppongi is now virtually a foreign neighborhood. Africans—I don't mean African-Americans—who don't speak English are there doing who knows what. This is leading to new forms of crime such as car theft. We should be letting in people who are intelligent."[35]

On April 17, 2010, Ishihara said "many veteran lawmakers in the ruling-coalition parties are naturalized or the offspring of people naturalized in Japan".[36]

Other controversial statements

In 1990, Ishihara said in a Playboy interview that the Rape of Nanking was a fiction, claiming, ”People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie.”[37][38] He continued to defend this statement in the uproar that ensued.[39] He has also backed the film The Truth about Nanjing, which argues that the Nanking Massacre was propaganda.[40]

In 2000, Ishihara, one of the eight judges for a literary prize, commented that homosexuality is abnormal, which caused an outrage in the gay community in Japan.[41]

In a 2001 interview with women's magazine Shukan Josei, Ishihara said that he believed "old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin," adding that he "couldn't say this as a politician." He was criticized in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly for these comments, but responded that the criticism was driven by "tyrant… old women."[42]

During an inauguration of a university building in 2004, Ishihara stated that French is unqualified as an international language because it is "a language in which nobody can count", referring to the counting system in French, which is based on units of twenty for numbers from 70 to 99 rather than ten (as is the case in Japanese and English). The statement led to a lawsuit from several language schools in 2005. Ishihara subsequently responded to comments that he did not disrespect French culture by professing his love of French literature on Japanese TV news.[43]

At a Tokyo IOC press briefing in 2009, Governor Ishihara dismissed a letter sent by environmentalist Paul Coleman regarding the contradiction of his promoting the Tokyo Olympic 2016 bid as 'the greenest ever' while destroying the forested mountain of Minamiyama, the closest 'Satoyama' to the centre of Tokyo, by angrily stating Coleman was 'Just a foreigner, it does not matter'. Then, on continued questioning by investigative journalist Hajime Yokata, he stated 'Minamiyama is a Devil's Mountain that eats children.' Then he went on to explain how unmanaged forests 'eat children' and implied that Yokota, a Japanese national, was betraying his nation by saying 'What nationality are you anyway?' This was recorded on film[44] and turned into a video that was sent around the world as the Save Minamiyama Movement[45]

In 2010, Ishihara claimed that Korea under Japanese rule was absolutely justified due to historical pressures from Qing Dynasty and Imperial Russia.[46]

In reference to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Ishihara said "that the disaster was 'punishment from heaven' because Japanese have become greedy".[47][48][49]

America's identity is freedom. France's identity is freedom, equality and fraternity. Japan has no sense of that. Only greed. Materiality greed, monetary greed.[50]

This greed bounds with populism. These things need to be washed away with the Tsunami. For many years the heart of Japanese always bounded with devil.[51]

Japanese's identity is greed. We should avail of this tsunami to wash away this greed. I think this is a divine punishment.[52]

— Ishihara Shintaro

However, he also commented that the victims of this disaster were pitiable.[53]

This speech quickly caused many controversies and critical responses from the public opinion, both inside and outside Japan. The governor of Miyagi expressed displeasure about Ishihara's speech, claimed that Ishihara should have considered about the victims of the disaster. Ishihara then had to apologize about his comments.[54]

During the 2012 Summer Olympics, Ishihara stated that "Westerners practicing judo resembles beasts fighting. Internationalized judo has lost its appeal." He added, "In Brazil they put chocolate in norimaki, but I wouldn't call it sushi. Judo has gone the same way."[55]

Ishihara has said that Japan ought to have nuclear weapons.[56]

Proposal to buy the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

On April 15, 2012, Ishihara made a speech in Washington, USA, publicly stating his desire for Tokyo to purchase the Senkaku Islands, called the Diaoyu Islands by mainland China, on behalf of Japan in an attempt to end the territorial dispute between China and Japan, causing uproars in Chinese society and increasing tension between the governments of China and Japan.[57][58]

Family

Ishihara is married to Noriko Ishihara and has four sons. Members of the House of Representatives Nobuteru Ishihara and Hirotaka Ishihara are his eldest and third sons; actor and weatherman Yoshizumi Ishihara is his second son. His youngest son, Nobuhiro Ishihara, is a painter.[59] The late actor Yujiro Ishihara was his younger brother.

Books written by Ishihara

Shintaro Ishihara (upper) and Yukio Mishima (lower) in 1956

Translation work

Translations in English

Film career

He acted in six films, including Crazed Fruit (1956) and The Hole (1957), and co-directed the 1962 film Love at Twenty (with François Truffaut, Marcel Ophüls, Renzo Rossellini and Andrzej Wajda).[60]

Honours

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Ex-Tokyo Gov. Ishihara set to secure lower house seat". Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved 2012-12-19.. Japan Times. December 16, 2012
  2. ↑ "引退会見詳報" [Full Report of Retirement Press Conference] (in Japanese). 16 December 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "太陽の季節：ここに始まる-炎のランナー". I-shintaro.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Profile of the Governor, Tokyo Metropolitan Government". Metro.tokyo.jp. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Mayors: Shintaro Ishihara: Governor of Tokyo". Citymayors.com. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  6. ↑ Playboy, Vol. 37, No. 10, p. 76.
  7. ↑ Stonefish, Isaac (November 1, 2013) The Man Who Would Be Warlord. Foreign Policy.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Larimer, Tim (April 24, 2000) "Rabble Rouser", TIME Asia.
  9. ↑ "Profile of Shintaro Ishihara". Ezipangu.org. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Sensen Fukoku". Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-11., accessed December 22, 2010. (in Japanese)
  11. ↑ Emmerson, John J., Arms, Yen & Power: The Japanese Dilemma, (Tokyo: C.E. Tuttle, 1971), p. 339.
  12. 1 2 Nagata, Kazuaki, "Ishihara leaves office with sights on Diet seat", The Japan Times, November 1, 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 "'There's No Need For an Apology': Tokyo's boisterous governor is back in the headlines," TIME Asia, April 24, 2000.
  14. ↑ 河信基 『代議士の自決ー新井将敬の真実』（河信基・三一書房）
  15. ↑ 浜田幸一. 「ハマコーの非常事態宣言」 (1995.7) ISBN 4-391-11762-2
  16. ↑ "Ishihara resigns as Tokyo governor to launch new political party". Japan Today. October 25, 2012.
  17. 1 2 Aoki, Mizuho (November 14, 2012) "Ishihara, Hiranuma unveil new party", The Japan Times.
  18. ↑ New parties merge forces / Taiyo no To dissolves to join Ishin no Kai; Ishihara named chief. Daily Yomiuri. November 18, 2012
  19. ↑ Matsumura, Ai (December 4, 2012) "Survey: DPJ snubbed, Japan Restoration Party favored as coalition partner" Archived December 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.. Asahi Shimbun.
  20. ↑ "Shintaro Ishihara. (World Beaters). – Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. December 1, 2002. Archived from the original on May 26, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  21. ↑ Hall, Eleanor (May 2, 2002). "The World Today Archive – Japan's Le Pen". Abc.net.au.
  22. ↑ Norihiro Kato (September 12, 2014). "Tea Party Politics in Japan". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2015. Their vagueness reminds me of the title of a book that the conservative politician (and Nippon Kaigi officer) Shintaro Ishihara published in English in 1991...
  23. ↑ DeWit, Andrew, and Masaru Kaneko, "Ishihara and the Politics of His Bank Tax", JPRI Critique 9:4, May 2002.
  24. ↑ "Tokyo hotel tax plan enacted," Kyodo News International, December 24, 2001.
  25. ↑ ""Diesels may return to Japan roads"". Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved 2006-05-07., Reuters, March 3, 2006.
  26. ↑ Carbon Trades of Up to $212 Billion Opposed by Japan, South Korea Firms, Bloomberg, January 13, 2011.
  27. ↑ "Tokyo governor suggests bid for 2016 Olympics Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.," Daily Times, August 6, 2005.
  28. ↑ ""ShinGinko Tokyo: the crumbling icon of imbecility"". Archived from the original on June 24, 2009. Retrieved 2008-03-03., Times Online, August 13, 2007.
  29. ↑ "Japanese Olympic Committee To Appoint Chairman For Tokyo 2020 Bid". GamesBids.com. September 7, 2011. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
  30. ↑ ""Policy Speech by Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara"". Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved 2006-10-14., First Regular Session of the Metropolitan Assembly, 2002. metro.tokyo.jp
  31. ↑ Ishihara, Shintaro; Mohamad, Mahathir. 「NO」と言えるアジア (対欧米への方策) [The Asia that can say no] (in Japanese). ISBN 978-4-334-05217-1.
  32. ↑ "Ishihara: Only Sanctions Will Force North Korea to Disarm; Japan Needs Its Own Missile Shield". New Perspectives Quarterly. October 22, 2003. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  33. ↑ 石原慎太郎受邀参加北京奥运开幕式 (in Chinese). CCTV. January 11, 2008.
  34. ↑ original in Japanese: "今日の東京をみますと、不法入国した多くの三国人、外国人が非常に凶悪な犯罪を繰り返している。もはや東京の犯罪の形は過去と違ってきた。こういう状況で、すごく大きな災害が起きた時には大きな大きな騒じょう事件すらですね想定される、そういう現状であります。こういうことに対処するためには我々警察の力をもっても限りがある。だからこそ、そういう時に皆さん（＝自衛隊）に出動願って、災害の救急だけではなしに、やはり治安の維持も１つ皆さんの大きな目的として遂行して頂きたいということを期待しております。"
  35. ↑ "Japan Threatened by China, Its Own Timidity: Ishihara", Bloomberg, February 20, 2007.
  36. ↑ 与党の党首や幹部は帰化した人の子孫が多い
  37. ↑ Playboy, Vol. 37, No. 10, p. 63.
  38. ↑ Historical Forces Drove U.S. and Japan to War; Rape of Nanking. New York Times. December 2, 1991 .
  39. ↑ Chang, Iris (1997) The Rape of Nanking, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-06835-9, pp. 201–2.
  40. ↑ Hongo, Jun (January 25, 2007)""Filmmaker to paint Nanjing slaughter as just myth"". Archived from the original on November 22, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-01. , The Japan Times.
  41. ↑ "Ishihara's homophobic remarks raise ire of gays". Japan Policy & Politics. 2000.
  42. ↑ "Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, The Third Consideration of Japanese Governmental Report: Proposal of List of Issues for Pre-sessional Working Group". Japan Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  43. ↑ Reed, Robert (July 28, 2005) "The governor's artistic side", Daily Yomiuri.
  44. ↑ "Tokyo Governor and His Shocking Response to a Question Regarding the 2016 Tokyo Olympic Bid". YouTube. July 7, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  45. ↑ "Minamiyama". Ning. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011.
  46. ↑ 『与党は帰化した子孫多い』　石原知事. Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese). April 18, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  47. ↑ Alabaster, Jay & Pitman, Todd (March 14, 2011). "Tide of bodies overwhelms quake-hit Japan". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 18, 2011.
  48. ↑ "asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：「大震災は天罰」「津波で我欲洗い落とせ」石原都知事 – 東京都知事選". Asahi.com. March 14, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  49. ↑ "Tokyo Governor Ishihara says earthquake and tsunami was "divine punishment" - Worldnews.com". Article.wn.com. March 15, 2011. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
  50. ↑ 朝日新聞 (in Japanese). Asahi. March 14, 2011. Archived from the original on October 10, 2011. アメリカのアイデンティティーは自由。フランスは自由と博愛と平等。日本はそんなものはない。我欲だよ。物欲、金銭欲
  51. ↑ "(untitled)" (in Japanese). 朝日新聞. March 14, 2011. 我欲に縛られて政治もポピュリズムでやっている。それを（津波で）一気に押し流す必要がある。積年たまった日本人の心のあかを
  52. ↑ 朝日新聞 (in Japanese). March 14, 2011. 日本人のアイデンティティーは我欲。この津波をうまく利用して我欲を1回洗い落とす必要がある。やっぱり天罰だと思う
  53. ↑ "Asahi Shimbun" (in Japanese). March 14, 2011.
  54. ↑ "Ishihara apologizes over Divine punishment remark". Japan Today.
  55. ↑ 石原都知事「西洋人の柔道はけだもののけんか (in Japanese). The Daily Yomiuri. August 3, 2012. Archived from the original on August 12, 2012.
  56. ↑ Herman, Steve (February 15, 2013) "Rising Voices in S. Korea, Japan Advocate Nuclear Weapons.". Voanews.com. Retrieved on May 11, 2014.
  57. ↑ "Tokyo governor seeks to buy islands disputed with China". Reuters. April 17, 2012.
  58. ↑ "Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara riles Beijing with plan to buy islands in a disputed area of the East China Sea". GlobalPost. April 17, 2012.
  59. ↑ Hongo, Jun (January 19, 2007). "Ishihara defiant, teflon to scandal". Japan Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  60. ↑ "Ishihara Shintarō" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
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