Chapter 1.5: Ishihara on 'Genius'

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

Chapter 1.5: Ishihara on 'Genius'

Read other chapters in My Mentor, Shintaro Ishihara

Shintaro Ishihara's book, Genius (天才, Gentosha, 2016), based on the history of Kakuei Tanaka, became a massive bestseller. Ishihara and I even talked about Kakuei Tanaka once. I do not recall ever hearing him utter even a single unfavorable word about the former prime minister.

Mr Ishihara related a story of having passed by Tanaka while coming in from the golf course. He said that Tanaka struck up a conversation with him. It was something to the effect of Kakuei Tanaka saying that he would like to sit down and have an unhurried heart-to-heart talk with Mr Ishihara sometime. Actually, I do not remember the details clearly, but at least I am sure that he referred to it not as an objectionable incident but as a fond one

Here, I feel compelled to reiterate that it was Mr Ishihara who penned the article, "You ー Don't Sell Our Country" (Monthly Bungeishunju, September 1974 issue). He thereby became the very first person to commence criticism of the falsehood of plutocracy and Kakuei Tanaka's money-driven politics. Somehow, much of the world missed that Mr Ishihara launched his arrow at Tanaka before Takashi Tachibana and Takaya Kodama, who later offered stinging criticism of Tanaka.

I used "once again" here because I had mentioned it in the chapter titled "The Imprint of the Era: Kakuei Tanaka vs Shintaro Ishihara" (pp 228-232) in my book, Is My Homeland Worth Sacrificing My Life for?

After all, it seemed to me that Mr Ishihara must have truly liked Kakuei Tanaka. Or, perhaps, there could have been more to it than that. My conversation with Mr Ishihara about the former prime minister was sometime after 1998, and by then, more than five years had passed since Tanaka's death.

Gossip

We didn't set out to have a discussion about Tanaka. Unprompted, Mr Ishihara started bringing up various politicians and commenting on them. Kakuei Tanaka happened to be one. I also recall him bringing up another figure ー a late prime minister ー making a mockery of his appearance in a way that would be rather awkward to quote. And he asked for my agreement, saying, "Well? Come on, don't you think so?" I remember being at my wits' end about how to respond.

Mr Ishihara also held no reservations about discussing people who were not present when we talked in private. On one occasion, he mentioned another famous novelist who had died, saying, "He had run out of materials to write about, and figured that since I'm a politician, I've got a lot of interesting experiences. So, he begged me to share some with him. How pathetic!" For a writer who continued to pen novels up to the time of his death, being depleted of material for stories would have been unimaginable.

The promotional belt around the cover of Ishihara's book, Genius, says, "Why is Ishihara, once the hard-hitting vanguard of anti-Tanaka critics, now attracted to Kakuei Tanaka?" Indeed, that is exactly the question.

When reading Genius for the first time, I had the impression that Mr Ishihara had projected his own story onto it.

*Book cover of "Genius" by Shintaro Ishihara, published by Gentosha.*

'Other' Sons

"Now, I am dying to see them ー I really want to, but how could I? Around me, I have no one except my regular family members now…no henchmen and none of my secretaries. No one is here, no one, but only me." (P 194). This passage verified my impression.

In the book, "them" meant the two boys by Tanaka's mistress and his mistress herself, of course. They were words Tanaka uttered after suffering a stroke.

As I was reading that passage in the blockbuster, I couldn't shake the feeling that Mr Ishihara was recounting his own story. The words just hit home with me. I was aware that Mr Ishihara had a child born out of wedlock, too ー the child was named Yuta (裕太), taking one character each from Yujiro (裕次郎) and Shintaro (慎太郎), respectively.

Mr Ishihara had acknowledged his son and rightly kept paying child support. That is how a man should take responsibility. He must have held the child dear, and all the more so because he was born out of wedlock. After all, he was the child of the renowned Shintaro Ishihara. But this child would not run for election, appear on television, or start his career as an artist, as his siblings did. He must have felt great pity for his son as his natural father and loved the child all the more for his unfortunate circumstances.

But, being a major public figure, Shintaro Ishihara could not allow himself to openly disclose such sentiments.

"Now, I am dying to see them. I really want to, but how could I?" He had no way but to express his innermost feelings through the voice of Kakuei Tanaka. Such is the privilege of a novelist.

The "other" son was born when Mr Ishihara was 53.

Encounters of Fortune

Come to think of it, Mr Ishihara wrote in Genius that he could recall no impressive encounters in the world of politics. I recalled this as I read through the book again.

"I had entered into the world of politics by choice and spent a long time there. But in retrospect, I can't think of any impressive encounters with others in the political sphere," he wrote in Genius at P 215. But the revelation came immediately after he opined, "I think that what shapes a man's life is, above all, nothing more than one's lucky encounters with others." Was that really true? I was much persuaded and thought to myself that it was very characteristic of Mr Ishihara.

When Mr Ishihara was in the process of writing Island of Fire (火の島) for Gentosha (2018), editor Toru Kenjo asked me several times to explain the mechanics of the corporate system ー a social institution ー to Mr Ishihara. Funnily enough, it was a lesson on legal entities delivered to the very person who would often lecture me that this world is composed of only men and women.

But to my great surprise, there is a scene in Island of Fire where the protagonist says to the woman he loves most, saying, "Ultimately, I've been reminded that this world of ours revolves around the law both in the normal world and in its hidden underworld." (P 460.)

Corporate Systems of Social Personality

I explained to Ishihara about corporations, the legal framework that defines them as a distinct social personality, which is different from a "natural person" (that is, an individual). Taking it further, I went through the relationship between a parent company and its subsidiary, and the distinction between management and ownership, etc. But no matter how much we discussed it, Mr Ishihara still seemed to struggle to grasp the concept of a corporation.

I found it a bit surprising that even a man of such sharp intellect could have a subject he found difficult to comprehend. Finally, I said to him, "Please show me the galley proof. I will return it to you after I tweak it where necessary, and you can use it as your own."

Now, of course, I regret speaking to him in such a rude and disrespectful manner. But it was shortly thereafter that a truly wonderful anecdote emerged, one that clearly illustrates what Mr Ishihara was like.

I do not remember distinctly whether it happened in connection with this galley proof, but around that time when I called Mr Ishihara at home, he said, "I answered this call in the living room, so I'm going to move to my study. I'd like to take my time to talk with you, so I'll call you back. It will take me some time to get to my study," he continued, speaking in quite a natural tone of voice.

Responding, I offered, "I'll wait holding the line." But he insisted, "No, I'm afraid it takes a bit longer, so let me call you back."

That is the kind of person Mr Ishihara was. He was polite, well-organized, and a kind person. And, above all, he was a man of reason.

The Call

Ishihara's private residence was very large. But, according to his son Nobuhiro, "My father appropriated most of the space of the residence for his own use, including his study, atelier, book storeroom, and sitting room." I learned this recently by reading an article by the son, Nobuhiro Ishihara, in the monthly magazine Bungeishunju: Father Held Fast to 'His Ego' until the Very End (April 2022 edition, pp 103-4).

Come to think of it, when Mr Ishihara called me at my office, he would always place the call directly on his own. Some of my acquaintances who are not as high on the social ladder as he was have their secretaries call me first, and when I come on the phone, they have their secretaries say to me, "I'll put you through to my boss."

But Mr Ishihara, though a figure of immense national stature, never did that.

"Ishihara speaking," he would say from the other end of the line, in a gentle and enveloping voice, as usual. There was not the slightest touch of arrogance in his tone. His tone of speech was always warm, as if speaking to a younger friend.

Calling from the main number of his office, some of the secretaries were known for loudly shouting, "It's urgent! The Governor is on the phone." Therefore, he may have called me from the landline in his office on his own. My secretary nevertheless took the phone and put him through to me.

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(To read the book in Japanese, please visit the publisher's website.)