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Shintaro Ishihara

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Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Shintaro Ishihara, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 10 August 20254 sources
Shintaro Ishihara
Born (1932-09-30) 30 September 1932 (age 94)
Suma-ku, Kobe, Japan
Died1 February 2022(2022-02-01) (aged 89)
Occupation(s)Politician, author, film director
Years active1968–2014
Known forGovernor of Tokyo (1999–2012), co-author of The Japan That Can Say No
was a Japanese political figure and author who held the position of Governor of Tokyo from 1999 until 2012. As the former head of the far-right Sunrise Party, which later merged with Toru Hashimoto's Japan Restoration Party before dividing into the Party for Japanese Kokoro, he stood out as a leading ultranationalist voice in contemporary Japanese politics. Ishihara was notorious for making misogynistic, xenophobic, and racially charged statements targeting Chinese and Koreans residing in Japan, including his use of the derogatory term "sangokujin". He also rejected the historical consensus on the Nanjing Massacre.

A vocal critic of Japan–US relations, Ishihara was also recognized as a skilled writer and cultural influencer. His 1989 publication, The Japan That Can Say No, co-written with Sony chairman Akio Morita, called for Japan to take a more assertive stance against the United States.

Ishihara’s career began in literature and film direction before transitioning into politics. He served in the House of Councillors from 1968 to 1972, followed by a tenure in the House of Representatives between 1972 and 1995. Subsequently, he governed Tokyo from 1999 to 2012, stepping down to co-chair the Sunrise Party prior to joining the Japan Restoration Party in 2012. After an unsuccessful re-election bid in 2014, he retired from political life by December that year.

In October 2021, Ishihara received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer with a prognosis of three months. He passed away due to related complications on 1 February 2022 at the age of 89.

Early life and artistic career

Shintaro Ishihara was born on 30 September 1932 in Suma-ku, Kobe. His father, Kiyoshi Ishihara (1899–1951), worked initially for a shipping company and later became its general manager, while his mother, Mitsuko Ishihara (1909–1992), hailed from Hiroshima. He spent his childhood in Zushi, Kanagawa, within the Greater Tokyo Area. In 1952, Ishihara enrolled at Hitotsubashi University, completing his studies in 1956. Just two months prior to graduating, he received the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for his novel Season of the Sun. His brother, Yujiro, appeared in a supporting role for the film adaptation, for which Shintaro wrote the screenplay. Ishihara directed multiple films featuring his brother and once remarked that had he continued directing, he might have rivaled Akira Kurosawa.

During the early 1960s, Ishihara concentrated on writing plays, novels, and even created a musical adaptation of Treasure Island. His 1982 novel Lost Country depicted a scenario where Japan was under Soviet domination. Additionally, he operated a theatre troupe and engaged in adventurous pursuits such as yacht racing and motorcycling across South America—experiences chronicled in his memoir Nanbei Odan Ichiman Kiro.

Between 1966 and 1967, Ishihara reported on the Vietnam War for Yomiuri Shimbun, an assignment that shaped his political aspirations. He was also guided by prominent author and political strategist Tsûsai Sugawara.

Political career

In 1968, Ishihara secured a seat on the national list for the LDP in the House of Councillors, achieving an unprecedented first-place finish with three million votes. Four years later, he won election to the House of Representatives, representing Tokyo's second district.

In 1973, he allied with thirty other LDP members to form the anti-communist faction known as Seirankai ("Blue Storm Group"), notable for their pledge sealed with their own blood. Ishihara sought election as Governor of Tokyo in 1975 but was defeated by incumbent Socialist Ryokichi Minobe, whom he criticized as being "too old." Returning to the House of Representatives, he climbed party ranks and held positions such as Director-General of the Environment Agency (1976) and Minister of Transport (1989). Despite his prominence during the 1980s, he did not succeed in building a strong faction or advancing further nationally. In 1983, controversy arose when his campaign manager accused his opponent of being a North Korean defector—a claim Ishihara justified as serving public interest.

Following an unsuccessful bid for party leadership in 1989, Ishihara gained international recognition through his book The Japan That Can Say No, co-authored with Sony chairman Akio Morita, advocating for Japan's more assertive posture toward America.

Governor of Tokyo

During the 1999 Tokyo gubernatorial election, Ishihara secured the position of Tokyo Governor as an independent candidate. His administration was marked by several notable actions:

  • Reducing metropolitan expenditure, including halting plans for a new Toei Subway line, and advocating for the sale or lease of certain metropolitan assets.
  • Introducing a tax on banks' gross revenues alongside implementing a hotel occupancy levy.
  • Enforcing restrictions on diesel-powered vehicles in response to environmental pollution concerns.
  • Launching a cap-and-trade system targeting energy consumption.
  • Suggesting the development of casinos within the Odaiba area.
  • Announcing Tokyo’s candidacy for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which effectively discouraged Fukuoka's competing bid; ultimately, Tokyo was defeated by Rio de Janeiro.
  • Founding ShinGinko Tokyo, a bank aimed at providing loans to SMEs; however, it faced criticism after incurring losses near $1 billion due to inadequate risk management.
  • Leading Tokyo’s victorious campaign to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.
  • Provoking controversy with PETA following the decision to cull approximately 37,000 crows across Tokyo.

Ishihara was re-elected as governor in 2003 with 70.2% of votes and again in 2007 with 50.52%. By 2011, his support declined to 43.4%, challenged notably by comedian Hideo Higashikokubaru and businessman Miki Watanabe.

On 25 October 2012, Ishihara declared his intention to resign as Governor in order to establish a new political party ahead of national elections. His resignation was ratified by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on 31 October 2012, concluding his nearly thirteen-and-a-half-year leadership—the second longest tenure after Shunichi Suzuki.

Sunrise Party

Ishihara’s newly formed national party emerged from members of the right-wing Sunrise Party of Japan (SPJ), which he had helped create in 2010. Officially announced on 13 November 2012 by Ishihara and SPJ leader Takeo Hiranuma, the Sunrise Party absorbed all five SPJ legislators and sought alliances with smaller parties such as Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s Japan Restoration Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai).

In November 2012, Ishihara and Hiranuma outlined the Sunrise Party’s priorities: drafting an independent Constitution, enhancing Japan’s defense capabilities, and pursuing reforms in fiscal policy and tax transparency. Central topics included nuclear energy policy and the forthcoming increase in consumption tax rates.

Sunrise Party merger with the Japan Restoration Party

Merely four days following its formation, on 17 November 2012, Ishihara and Tōru Hashimoto, head of the Japan Restoration Party (JRP), agreed to merge their political groups, with Ishihara appointed as leader of the JRP. Neither Your Party nor Genzei Nippon participated in this union; notably, Genzei Nippon opposed JRP’s stance favoring consumption tax increases.

A December 2012 poll reported by Asahi Shimbun characterized this merger as JRP having effectively "absorbed" Sunrise. Although JRP demonstrated significant momentum against the ruling DPJ ahead of the Lower House elections on 16 December, its association with Sunrise risked complicating efforts to form a governing coalition.

Party for Future Generations

In the general elections held in December 2014, Ishihara ran under the banner of the far-right Party for Future Generations but was unsuccessful. Following this defeat, he withdrew from active politics.

Political views

Ishihara was widely acknowledged as one of Japan's leading figures on the far-right political spectrum. He gained significant attention as a co-author of the 1988 publication The Japan That Can Say 'No alongside the Sony chairman, which underscored his nationalist ideology. Frequently likened to France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen, Ishihara was connected to the ultranationalist group Nippon Kaigi.

Foreign relations

Ishihara forged a longstanding relationship with the influential Aquino family in the Philippines and was the first to notify future President Corazon Aquino about the assassination of her husband Ninoy Aquino in 1983.

He often condemned Japan’s foreign policy as excessively submissive, especially in terms of U.S.–Japan dynamics, asserting that Japan lacked assertiveness. In 1994, he collaborated on a book with then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, promoting a stance for Asia to resist Western dominance.

A staunch critic of the People's Republic of China, Ishihara welcomed prominent figures such as the Dalai Lama and Taiwan’s President Lee Teng-hui to Tokyo. He was actively involved in addressing North Korea’s abduction controversies and advocated for imposing economic sanctions on North Korea.

After leading Tokyo’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ishihara softened his approach toward China, participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and carrying the torch during Japan’s segment of the relay.

Views on foreigners in Japan

During a speech on 9 April 2000 before members of the Self-Defense Forces, Ishihara asserted that crimes were frequently committed by individuals who had entered illegally, referring disparagingly to them as sangokujin and foreigners. He speculated that a major disaster in Tokyo could trigger civil unrest involving these groups.[1] These comments sparked demands for his resignation, calls for an apology, unease among residents of Korean descent in Japan, and criticism from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.[2]

He later clarified his position:

On 20 February 2006, Ishihara remarked: "Roppongi has effectively become a foreign district. Africans—not African Americans—who lack English proficiency are present engaging in unknown activities. This has given rise to new crime types such as vehicle theft. We ought to admit individuals who are intelligent."[3]

On 17 April 2010, he observed that many senior lawmakers within ruling coalition parties are either naturalized citizens or descendants thereof.[4]

Additional contentious remarks

In a 1990 interview with Playboy, Ishihara asserted that the Rape of Nanjing was a fabricated event, claiming it was "a story made up by the Chinese" intended to damage Japan's reputation. Despite facing criticism, he maintained this stance and endorsed the film The Truth about Nanjing, which denies the massacre and portrays it as propaganda by Chinese communists.

As a judge for a literary award in 2000, Ishihara described homosexuality as abnormal, provoking strong backlash from Japan's LGBTQ+ community.

In a 2001 interview, he referred to elderly women past childbearing age as useless and sinful, remarks that were condemned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Ishihara responded with dismissiveness toward their censure.

At a university event in 2004, he criticized the French language as unsuitable for international communication due to its numerical system, leading to a lawsuit in 2005 filed by language schools. On Japanese television later, he expressed respect for French culture to clarify his position.

During a 2009 press conference related to Tokyo's IOC Olympic bid, Ishihara dismissed environmentalist Paul Coleman's concerns about deforestation with xenophobic comments and disparaged investigative journalist Hajime Yokota for challenging him. These statements gained international attention through the Save Minamiyama Movement.

In 2010, Ishihara defended Korea under Japanese rule by citing geopolitical pressures from the Qing dynasty and Imperial Russia as justification.

Following the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster, he controversially described the triple catastrophe as "divine punishment" for Japanese greed. Although he expressed condolences for those affected, his remarks were widely condemned both domestically and internationally, including criticism from Miyagi’s governor and a response from Emperor Akihito. Ishihara subsequently issued an apology.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he criticized Western judo athletes as "beasts fighting," lamenting that judo’s globalization diminished its original appeal. He also disparaged Brazilian-style sushi adaptations.

Ishihara has been an advocate for Japan acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.

Suggestion to acquire the Senkaku Islands

On April 15, 2012, in Washington, D.C., Ishihara publicly proposed that Tokyo purchase the Senkaku Islands, referred to as Diaoyu Islands in China and Diaoyutai Islands in Taiwan, aiming to resolve the territorial dispute with China. This proposal triggered strong opposition in China and intensified diplomatic tensions. To counter Ishihara’s initiative, the Japanese government proceeded to buy the islands themselves; however, China perceived this action as Japan asserting sovereignty over contested territory.

Personal background

Ishihara was married to Japanese essayist Noriko Ishihara, born between 1933 and 1938 and who passed away on March 8, 2022; she was a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Together they had four sons: Nobuteru (born 1957), a politician; Yoshizumi (born 1962), an actor and weather presenter; Hirotaka (born 1964), also a politician; and Nobuhiro (born 1966), an artist and painter.

His younger brother was Yujiro Ishihara (1934–1987), known as an actor and singer; his sister-in-law Mie Ishihara (born 1933) worked as an actress; and his daughter-in-law Risa Ishihara (born 1963) was also active as an actress and talent.

Illness and Passing

In October 2021, Ishihara received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer with a prognosis of approximately three months to live. Opting to spend his remaining time comfortably at home, free from pain, his son Nobuteru coordinated the provision of palliative care medications. At the same time, his wife Noriko was critically ill due to a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

During holidays, their four sons and one daughter-in-law alternated staying at the family residence, aided by a full-time nanny. Despite his deteriorating health, Ishihara remained dedicated to his writing projects, encouraging Nobuteru to "handle all other matters."

Ishihara passed away at home in Tokyo on 1 February 2022 at the age of 89. Roughly one month later, on 8 March, Noriko died at age 84. Both the family and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare clarified that neither death was connected to the Fukushima incident or COVID-19. Following private funeral services, their remains were cremated and their ashes dispersed at sea.

They are survived by four sons—Nobuteru, Hirotaka, Yoshizumi, and Nobuhiro—along with a daughter-in-law, Risa.

Literary Works by Ishihara

  • Taiyō no kisetsu (太陽の季節), Season of the Sun, awarded the Akutagawa Prize, 1956
  • Kurutta kajitsu (狂った果実), Crazed Fruit, 1956
  • Kanzen Na Yuugi (完全な遊戯), The Perfect Game, 1956
  • Umi no chizu (海の地図), Map of the Sea, 1958
  • Seinen no ki (青年の樹), Tree of the Youth, 1959
  • Gesshoku (月蝕), Lunar Eclipse, 1959
  • Nanbei ōdan ichi man kiro (南米横断1万キロ), Ten Thousand Kilometers Crossing South America
  • Seishun to wa nanda (青春とはなんだ), What is Youth?, 1965
  • Ōinaru umi e (大いなる海へ), Towards the Great Sea, 1965
  • Kaeranu umi (還らぬ海), The Sea That Does Not Return, 1966
  • Suparuta kyōiku (スパルタ教育), Spartan Education, 1969
  • Kaseki no mori (化石の森), Fossil Forest, recipient of the Minister of Education Prize, 1970
  • Shintarō no seiji chousho (慎太郎の政治調書), Shintaro’s Political Dossier, 1970
  • Shintarō no daini seiji chousho (慎太郎の第二政治調書), Shintaro’s Second Political Dossier, 1971
  • Shin Wakan rōeishū (新和漢朗詠集), New Wakan rōeishū (Anthology of Japanese and Chinese Poetry), 1973
  • Yabanjin no daigaku (野蛮人の大学), University of Barbarians, 1977
  • Boukoku -Nihon no totsuzenshi (亡国 -日本の突然死), The Fall of a Nation – Japan’s Sudden Death, 1982
  • 'Nō' to ieru Nihon (「NO」と言える日本), The Japan That Can Say No (co-authored with Akio Morita), 1989
  • Soredemo 'Nō' to ieru Nihon. Nichibeikan no konponmondai (それでも「NO」と言える日本 —日米間の根本問題—), The Japan That Still Can Say No – Fundamental Japan–US Issues (with Shōichi Watanabe & Kazuhisa Ogawa), 1990
  • Waga jinsei no toki no toki (わが人生の時の時), The Sublime Moment in My Life, 1990
  • Danko 'No' to ieru Nihon (断固「NO」と言える日本), The Japan That Can Resolutely Say No (with Jun Etō), 1991
  • Mishima Yukio no nisshoku (三島由紀夫の日蝕), The Eclipse of Yukio Mishima, 1991
  • 'No' to ieru Asia (「NO」と言えるアジア)，The Asia That Can Say NO (with Mahathir Mohamad), 1994
  • Kaze ni tsuite no kioku (風についての記憶), Memories About the Wind, 1994
  • Otōto (弟), Younger Brother, honored with the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award Special Award, 1996
  • 'Chichi' nakushite kuni tatazu ("父"なくして国立たず), No Nation Can Stand Without a "Father", 1997
  • Sensen fukoku 'Nō' to ieru Nihon keizai -Amerika no kin'yū dorei kara no kaihō- (宣戦布告「NO」と言える日本経済 —アメリカの金融奴隷からの解放—), Declaration of War: The Economy of Japan That Can Say No – Freedom from America's Financial Servitude, 1998
  • Hokekyō o ikiru(法華経を生きる), Living the Lotus Sutra, 1998
  • Seisan (聖餐), Eucharist, 1999
  • Kokka naru gen'ei (国家なる幻影), An Illusion Called Nation, 1999
  • Amerika shinkō wo suteyo 2001 nen kara no nihon senryaku (「アメリカ信仰」を捨てよ —2001年からの日本戦略), Abandon Belief in America – Japan's Strategy from 2001 Onwards, 2000
  • Boku wa kekkon shinai (僕は結婚しない), I Will Not Marry, 2001
  • Ima 'Tamashii' no kyōiku (いま「魂」の教育), Education of the 'Spirit' Today, 2001
  • Ei'en nare, nihon -moto sōri to tochiji no katariai (永遠なれ、日本 -元総理と都知事の語り合い), Eternal Japan – Dialogue Between Former Prime Minister and Tokyo Governor (with Yasuhiro Nakasone), 2001
  • Oite koso jinsei (老いてこそ人生), Life Begins with Aging, 2002
  • Hi no shima (火の島), Island of Fire, 2008
  • Watashi no suki na nihonjin (私の好きな日本人), Japanese People I Admire, 2008
  • Saisei(再生), Rebirth, 2010
  • Shin Darakuron -Gayoku to tenbatsu (新・堕落論-我欲と天罰),'New "On Decadence" – Selfishness and Divine Retribution', 2011

Translation Contributions

English Language Translations

  • The Japan That Can Say No (co-authored with Akio Morita), released by Simon & Schuster in 1991; followed by Touchstone Books editions in 1992; audio cassette and disk formats were made available during the early 1990s.

Cinematic Involvement

He appeared as an actor in six motion pictures, notably including Crazed Fruit (1956) and The Hole (1957). Additionally, he served as co-director for the 1962 film Love at Twenty, collaborating with prominent filmmakers such as François Truffaut. His creative input extended to screenwriting, providing the narrative for films like Pale Flower (1964).

Film References

Ishihara served as the inspiration for the character Shinsaburô Ishiyama, a fictional Japanese Defense Minister recognized for his firm refusal of foreign demands, featured in the 2006 satirical comedy Nihon Igai Zenbu Chinbotsu.

Awards and Distinctions

Related Topics

External Resources




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  1. ↑ 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。"
  2. ↑ "Ishihara slammed for racist remarks". The Japan Times. 2001-03-10. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  3. ↑ Japan Threatened by China, Its Own Timidity: Ishihara", Bloomberg, 20 February 2007.
  4. ↑ 与党の党首や幹部は帰化した人の子孫が多い

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