Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara is a gracious host, settling comfortably into a white leather chair and patiently listening to a question from a visitor. Then he opens his mouth, launching into a tirade.
China is "very dangerous," he thunders. Japan's critics are "just jeal-ous." Tokyo's bloody 1930s and 1940s campaigns saved Asia from colonization by "white people."
At 72, Japan's best-known nationalist politician says he's too old to pursue the prime ministership that pundits have predicted he would capture.
But in a recent interview, the co-author of 1989's The Japan That Can Say No still growls the convictions that have made him perhaps Japan's most divisive and popular political figure.
"I'd say I'm a realist," Ishihara said at Tokyo's towering City Hall. "Everyone misunderstands, though."
Even without gaining the premiership, Ishihara is far more influential than his position suggests. He leads one of the world's largest cities, with a population of 12.5 million people and an economy bigger than Canada's.
Ishihara, who gained fame as a bad-boy novelist in the 1950s, has grown more popular with time. First elected Tokyo governor in 1999, he stomped his way to re-election last year with more than 70 percent of the vote.
At the same time, Ishihara is widely vilified here and abroad for his blunt nationalist talk, criticism of immigrants and unapologetic praise of Japan's militarist past.
Outspoken in his pro-military views, he accuses China of threatening Japanese security with its territorial claims against tiny islands held by Japan.
"We should properly rebuild the military," Ishihara said. ``We don't need nuclear weapons, and even saying we should discuss that possibility would create misunderstanding. But we should protect our airspace and territorial wa-ters. We can't allow China take what they are trying to take."
Ishihara, who called for greater Japanese independence from the US in his 1989 book, has campaigned strenuously for returning to Japan's control the Yokota Air Base, now run by the US Air Force. He railed against Japan's willingness to go along with Washington, alleging Japan's Foreign Ministry was a "branch office" of the US State Department.
"Japan is a vassal of the United States," Ishihara said. "Pretty soon it will be a slave."
Riling others across Asia, Ishihara insists that Tokyo need not apologize for its bloody wartime invasions of neighbors, and argues that Japan did Asia a favor by delivering it from Western imperialism.
"If Japanese hadn't fought the white people, we would still be slaves of the white people. It would be colonization," he said.
While such blunt talk embarrasses some Japanese, supporters say Ishihara is saying out loud what many believe, but hesitate to say.
"Among Japanese leaders, Shintaro Ishihara is a rare politician who has a clear will, talks about it and is convincing," Kazuya Fukuda, a Keio University professor, wrote in a recent book about Ishihara.
Still, Ishihara's popularity in Tokyo is also based on parochial concerns. At his initiative, for example, Tokyo and three neighboring areas won high grades from voters last year by banning older diesel-powered vehicles to reduce pervasive air pollution.
Tokyoites angered by a massive public bailout to help banks overcome bad debt also cheered his attempt to slap a new tax on the banks. His move was struck down in the courts, but was later put into the national tax code.
He fans fears that illegal immigrants are behind a surge in crime and promising to deal swiftly with threats to public security.
Ishihara's government is cracking down on public school teachers who refuse to stand for the rising sun flag and national anthem because these symbols are associated with wartime militarism.
Such views on immigration and patriotism show the dark side of his popularity, said Jin Igarashi, a Hosei University professor.
"He's used the fears and frustrations of the masses to carry out antidemocratic nationalist policies and make nationalistic remarks," Igarashi said. "He's a modern fascist."
Ishihara brushes off such criticism, declaring: "I'm no fascist."
Whatever his appeal, it's unlikely Ishihara will ever be prime minister. He failed in an attempt to take control of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 1989, and his decision to run for re-election last year was taken as a sign he had scaled back his ambitions.
"I'm not young. Yesterday or the day before I pushed myself a little hard when I went diving and I almost died! That never used to happen," he said. "Younger people have to come to the fore now."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was