The novel later became a film that included both the future governor and his brother, Yujiro, an acclaimed movie star who died of liver cancer in 1987.
Shintaro Ishihara turned to politics and became a transport minister, before eventually leaving consensus politics. He was re-elected Tokyo governor in 2003 and enjoys public approval ratings topping 60 percent.
He has often appeared high on the list of potential prime ministers. But under Japan's political system, winning the top prize could be difficult as he is an independent, having given up his parliamentary seat as a member of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party in 1995.
There have been persistent rumors that he may form a new party by drawing conservative politicians from both the ruling and opposition camps.
While Koizumi has annoyed China and South Korea, he has pursued warm relations with Japan's closest ally, the US -- an idea strenuously opposed by Ishihara.
Ishihara, who recalled disliking US troops during the occupation after World War II, has agitated Washington by demanding the joint use of a US airbase in Tokyo's suburbs by Japanese commercial airliners.
In The Japan That Can Say No, co-written with former Sony chairman Akio Morita at a time when Tokyo and Washington saw major trade friction, Ishihara said: "The reason why the United States bashes Japan is because they are bigots."
He has also annoyed China by championing Taiwan and Tibet. He has sought to revise Japan's pacifist constitution -- to the point of calling for war on North Korea to release Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang agents in the Cold War years.
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