Shintaro Ishihara (file photo)
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara accused Prime Minister Naoto Kan, along with his cabinet, of being “not Japanese” for not visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Monday to honor Japan’s war dead. Kan and his cabinet visited a different, non-controversial shrine instead.
Ishihara went on to comment on Japan’s current political turmoil, saying: “The Japanese race has become a degraded shadow of its former self. We brought this upon ourselves.”
Ishihara apparently believes that in order to be “Japanese,” you not only have to be an ethnic Yamato citizen of Japan, but you also have to hold a certain set of right-wing, nationalistic political beliefs– namely that the Japanese are a superior race, and as such, they must despise and antagonize other peoples. Just last week he said Japan should conduct simulated nuclear weapons tests to “send a message that (Japan) could possess nuclear weapons any time.”
I think Ishihara’s politics are down right dangerous. He panders to the same right-wing nationalists who prodded the Japanese government into invading mainland Asia, a course of action that lead Japan into World War II. Bestselling Japanese author, Haruki Murakami, said in 2006 that he’s worried about his country and that: “Ishihara is a very dangerous man. He’s an agitator. He hates China.”
The life expectancy for men in Japan is 78.96 years. As of this writing, Shintaro Ishihara is 78.88 years old, so perhaps the world won’t have to put up with his stupidity for much longer.
