Ishihara Shintaro
(b. 1932), Japanese novelist and politician. Born in Kobe, Ishihara Shintaro graduated from Hitotsubashi University with a law degree in 1956. In 1954, he published his first novel, Hai iro no kyoshitsu (The Gray Classroom), in Hitotsubashi Bungaku, a literary magazine. In 1955, he won two of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes, the Bungakukai Award for New Writers and the Akutagawa Award for his novel Taiyo no kisetsu (Season of Violence). Other novels include Kiretsu (The Crevice, 1958), Sohei no Heya (The Punishment Room, 1956), and Kanzennaru Yugi (Utter Decadence, 1957). In 1968, he entered politics and won a seat as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the upper house of the Japanese legislature; in 1972, he was elected to the House of Representatives. Together with Sony Corporation Chairman Morita Akio (1921–1999), he coauthored an essay "'No' to ieru Nihon" (The Japan that Can Say 'No,' 1989). After an authorized translation raised concern among members of the U.S. Congress, Morita withdrew from the project. The book was published in English in 1991 under Ishihara's name. He coauthored with Malaysia's prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (b. 1925) another essay titled "An Asia That Can Say No" (1994). In 1995, he resigned from the LDP and in 1999 was elected governor of Tokyo.
Further Reading
Ishihara Shintaro. (1991) The Japan That Can Say No: Why Japan Will Be First Among Equals. Trans. by Frank Baldwin. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Mohamad, Mahathir, and Shintaro Ishihara, eds. (1996) The Voice of Asia: Two Leaders Discuss the Coming Century. Trans. by Frank Baldwin. New York: Kodansha.
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