Introducing 'My Mentor, Shintaro Ishihara'

Mr Shintaro Ishihara was the Goethe of Japan. I was his pupil, a person in the same profession and his escort runner. Here I have woven together my private recollections, which span as long as twenty-plus years, and "my unfulfilled promise" to him. ーShin Ushijima

Preface

On June 9, 2022, a farewell service was held in memory of Shintaro Ishihara at the B2 floor Cerulean Tower Ballroom of the Cerulean Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya. Nearly a year later, on January 23, I stood exactly on the same spot in that second basement floor. The New Year get-together party was held there by the Tokyo-Hiroshima People's Association, of which I am president, and I was on my feet before a microphone to address its seven hundred members.

I was clearly conscious of myself standing in the same spot where the photo of Mr Ishihara was displayed at the farewell service.

Suddenly, a question arose in me whether Mr Ishihara's urn was displayed at his farewell service.

Ishihara's Wishes

In his last will and testament, Mr Ishihara reportedly instructed his family to "be sure to scatter my bones at sea." (Watashino Umi (My Sea), by Shintaro Ishihara, published by Gentosha, 2014.

Accordingly, his ashes were scattered in the sea in April and can no longer be found anywhere on earth.

But what do ashes mean to people, anyway?

A loved one, no matter how vigorous he/she was in life, has turned into bones. Yet we hold on to the thought that they still exist in the grave. Or a loved one's ashes have been scattered at sea, and even a single piece is no longer found anywhere on earth. Who does this difference matter to?

Of course, to the family of the dear departed.

I do not think that I can tolerate the thought of my loved ones' ashes disappearing in the ocean ー I would like to keep something to prove their existence in this world. Someday in the future, scientific development could make it possible to reproduce a healthy human body from the ashes. Who could deny this future possibility?

The Goethe of Japan

Having given the opening address standing on the same spot, I returned to my chair and recalled what had happened on June 9, a year before.

As a matter of course, I could not help but incorporate my feelings at that time in this book. It had yet to be completed ー I gnashed my teeth in chagrin.

On the same day, January 23, 2023, I was talking with Mr Soichiro Tahara, when we happened to mention Mr Ishihara in the course of our conversation. Mr Tahara told me that when he had a talk with Mr Ishihara for a certain magazine, they got into a head-on argument with each other.

"It was about Japan's autonomy. But Mr Ishihara suggested carrying honestly in the magazine how we disagreed on this matter. Even though we had different views, I have to admit that he was such a wonderful person." So Mr Tahara recalled.

It will take at least one hundred years' time before Mr Ishihara is understood to have been the Goethe of Japan. It may take even more … two hundred years. And, it may happen in the age when a prize called the Nobel Prize in Literature has lost its meaning and weight.

If We Could Talk Now

I would enjoy occasional meetings with Mr Ishihara as described in this book.

Mr Ishihara is no longer in this world. But he remains alive in my cerebrum. He will surely stay in existence there until I die and my cerebrum is burned up and reduced to ashes.

When I am seated in my study alone, I sometimes fall into the illusion that I am being Mr Ishihara. Just as he thought and felt in his study overlooking the sea, I feel like I can think and feel in my study overlooking the river. And I recall what we talked about and how we spent time together over and over again, thus enjoying a sense of déjà vu.

What kind of person was Shintaro Ishihara?

Through my book, let me share my private notes and personal memories. Hopefully, you will take the opportunity to see Mr Ishihara in a new light.

My Mentor, Shintaro Ishihara TABLE of CONTENTS

Follow the book, My Mentor, Shintaro Ishihara by Shin Ushijima, as it's published.

(Read the preface in Japanese.)