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Former Tokyo Governor, Novelist Shintaro Ishihara Passes Away at 89
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Novelist and former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara passed away on Tuesday. He was 89.
Ishihara received the Akutagawa Prize for his debut novel Season of the Sun (Taiyō no Kisetsu) while he was still a student at Hitotsubashi University in 1956. The book led to the popular slang term "Taiyōzoku" (Sun Tribe) for the disaffected and carefree postwar youth in Japan, and it also inspired a 1956 live-action film, a 1986 television anime special, and a 2002 live-action series. He later contributed to the story concepts for the 2009 Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection anime film.
Within the anime industry, Ishihara is perhaps best known for the 2010 Youth Healthy Development Ordinance amendment to restrict the sale of so-called "harmful publications" such as certain manga and anime. This resulted in 10 major manga publishers boycotting Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF), an event chaired by Ishihara as Tokyo's governor. The publishers joined other organizations in launching the rival event Anime Contents Expo. TAF merged with the Anime Contents Expo event in 2013 to form the AnimeJapan event (without the Tokyo government's direct participation), which continues annually today.
Ishihara's political career began in 1968, when he ran as a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for a position in the House of Councillors, the Japanese legislative upper house. He later ran for the lower house representing the second district of Tokyo after four years in the House of Councillors. He first attempted to run for Governor of Tokyo in 1975, but failed, returning to the lower house. His later attempt in 1999 succeeded, and he served as Tokyo Governor for two more terms until his 2012 resignation.
His political career has leaned extremely right-wing, and has been marred with controversy, including statements critical of Japan's geopolitical rivals, U.S. dependency, and immigration, as well as hawkish rhetoric that included attempts at constitutional reform. He is a prominent denier of the Nanking Massacre in World War II, and has expressed anti-LGBTQ statements. He made an initial Tokyo bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and served as Chairman of the successful bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics. In the latter years of his political career, he formed or was affiliated with a number of right-wing or ultra right-wing parties in Japan, including the Sunrise Party, the Japan Restoration Party, and the Party for Future Generations. He retired from politics in 2014.
Image via Shintaro Ishihara's Twitter account
Source: NHK via Hachima Kikō
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