Shintarō Ishihara

was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Sunrise Party, later merged with Toru Hashimoto's Japan Restoration Party out of which he split his faction into the Party for Japanese Kokoro, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultranationalist, he was infamous for his misogynistic comments, racist remarks, xenophobic views and hatred of Chinese and Koreans, including using the antiquated pejorative term "sangokujin". He was also a denier of the Nanjing Massacre. Also a critic of relations between Japan and the United States, 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 (released in 1991 in English), called on the authors' countrymen to stand up to the United States. After an early career as a writer and film director, Ishihara served in the House of Councillors from 1968 to 1972, in the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1995, and as Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. He resigned from the governorship to briefly co-lead the Sunrise Party, then joined the Japan Restoration Party and returned to the House of Representatives in the 2012 general election. He unsuccessfully sought re-election in the general election of November 2014, and officially left politics the following month. 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. His brother Yujiro played a supporting role in the movie adaptation of the novel (for which Shintaro wrote the screenplay). Ishihara had dabbled in directing a couple of films starring his brother. Regarding these early years as a filmmaker, he said to a Playboy Magazine 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".