ISHIHARA Shintarō

Known as a best-selling writer, Shintarō Ishihara (born in 1932) was a former Governor of Tokyo Prefecture, from 1999 to 2012. He also served in the House of Councillors (1968-1972) and House of Representatives (1972-1975, 1976-1995, 2012-2014); he resigned as a Diet member to run for the 1975 Tokyo gubernatorial election but lost, and subsequently regained his Diet seat in the 1976 general election. He died at 89 in February 2022. 

During his career in the Diet, he was affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), but he ran for the 1999 Tokyo gubernatorial election as an independent. Since then, he became known as a far-right politician. After leading the Sunrise Party (太陽の党), followed by membership with the Japan Restoration Party (日本維新の会), he served in the House of Representatives once again (2012-2014) before retiring from politics. Although he ran for the 2014 general election as a member of the Party for Future Generations (次世代の党), he lost and retired from Diet membership. 

On his website, Ishihara set out his views on a range of topics, including constitutional revision. Ishihara considered the current constitution to have been imposed upon Japan by the United States, and he believed that Japan should discard the current constitution and draft a new document autonomously; the new constitution should state that the emperor is the head of the country, and that the prime minister should be popularly elected.