Chapter 4.10: Foretelling the Ghost

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

Chapter 4.10: Foretelling the Ghost

Read other chapters in My Mentor, Shintaro Ishihara

In the dead of night, there is a time when even the trees and plants are asleep. It was in this interval, around 2:00 AM on November 23, 2022, that Shintaro Ishihara appeared before me out of the blue. At that exact moment, I was weaving into words my private memories of him.

Mr Ishihara was in pure white. He was silent. It knocked my socks off.

In his book, The Life of a Man Called ”I” (Gentosha, 2022), Shintaro Ishihara repeatedly foretold that he would reappear in this world as a ghost. I felt in my bones that he was making good on that promise.

He wrote, "I believe that ghosts quite possibly exist." (Ibid, P 331)

Much to my surprise, from among my stacks of documents, a personal letter addressed to me from Mr Ishihara, which I had no recollection of receiving, suddenly appeared. It was tucked into a plastic folder.

On the front of the pure white envelope, "Mr Shin Ushijima" was written in his distinctive handwriting. Printed on the back of the envelope was his name and address in Tokyo's Ota Ward. It was a white envelope of high quality.

Inside, there was a single sheet of A4-size paper, with an A4-size document underneath.

Both pages were oriented in landscape style with vertically written text. The attached document was Mr Ishihara's review of the Akutagawa Prize candidates for the first half of that year. Labeled "My Selection," the review was titled, "The Futility of Literature and of Language."

The letter was dated July 19.

A Soaring Signature

Mr Ishihara's letter began with his complaint about the futility of the literature of the "young and new writers nowadays, which we have previously discussed." At the end of the letter, he noted that he had enclosed his review, "My Selection." Finally, he said that he would like to meet with me and Mr Tadao Sakamoto [a skilled editor at Shinchosha]. Then came the enclosure, "The Futility of Literature and of Language."

At the end of the letter, after the typed text, which appeared to be created by a word processor, were two separate lines with the printed words, "Best regards, July 19." And just to their left, "Mr Shin Ushijima" was written in vivid, sumi ink characters in Mr Ishihara's own large handwriting.

His unique signature, "Shintaro Ishihara," appeared on the next line, a short distance to the left of the character "Shin" for my name, Shin Ushijima. His signature looked as though a wildly galloping horse was running up into a blue sky.

For his family name, Ishihara, the first stroke of Ishi ー"石" ー and the first stroke of hara ー"原" ー conjured up the bucking movement of a brawny horse. And from the three characters of his given name, Shintaro, Shin ー "慎" ー and taro ー "太" ー gave more power to its momentum. The final character on the right side of Shintaro ー "郎" ー was like the horse's tail, swishing high into the air, completing his signature. The overall impression was of a horse as a whole, leaping and soaring into the sky, as the swift movement of its tail sharply split the air.

A kao (stylized signature) was embossed on the lower left of the next line.

Lines of Influence

In the letter, Mr Ishihara wrote, "This may be an unnecessary suggestion," followed by a few lines suggesting that I try writing novels using the style of court statements or witness confessions in a trial, from which I could sense his uncontainable feelings toward me.

Looking back, whenever we met in person or over the phone, Mr Ishihara would give me plenty of thought-provoking input regarding how to write novels. I gave him the compilation of my essays, Whose Country Is This? Japan is Trembling Beyond Its Corporations (Gentosha, 2007), and he sent me a thank-you note. He also read Outside Directors (Gentosha, 2004) and gently pointed out that it needed more foreshadowing.

In his "My Selection" critique attached to his letter, Mr Ishihara criticized the Akutagawa Prize award-winning books. They were ignorant of "the awesome depth of power and lingering impact of polished and sophisticated words." All of this suddenly appeared before my eyes like a bolt of lightning in the dead of night.

Mr Ishihara seemed to be conveying: "You're writing about me, aren't you. In that case, please remember what I wrote in the letter that I sent you before. I told you over and over that I expected much of you. But you didn't respond to my expectations. I just wonder why? Why didn't you grant this earnest request from Shintaro Ishihara? What on earth is it that you valued so highly that you continued to ignore my wishes?"

That's what he seemed to be saying.

*Obi belt from the cover of "The Last Writings" by Shintaro Ishihara*

The Spirit of Ishihara

Come to think of it, in The Life of a Man Called ”I” he wrote, "I am very curious to know who the hell will talk and what they will say about me after my death." (P 322) He also wrote, "I believe that ghosts are quite possible." (P 331) So, that must be why he made his appearance in the form of a white letter slipping out from among the various documents at hand.

But why now, to me?

Was it his way of encouraging me, even giving me a thump on the back to say, "You've finally got it rolling?" Or, did he want to deliver some message from the spiritual world?

Otherwise, there is no plausible way to explain why that white envelope popped out of the stack of documents that I casually picked at two in the morning, buried among my many books and documents.

Vaguely, I remembered receiving the offprints of some books nominated for the Akutagawa Prize, but I couldn't recall where I put them. I asked my secretary to look for them several times, but she couldn't locate them, either.

The personal letter that suddenly appeared to me seemed to be a cover letter from that time. But the memory of its arrival eluded me, and still does. All I know is that I have no recollection of him saying that he would introduce me to Mr Sakamoto.

In any event, one thing is certain. Documents I did not recall receiving suddenly appeared before my eyes. As I now write these words, I am looking at Mr Ishihara's handwriting.

It must be the spirit of Mr Ishihara.

The Ishihara Only I Know

At the end, the letter read, "I would like to see you with Mr Sakamoto after the House of Councillors election is over."

The House of Councillors election took place on July 29, 2007. As per his letter, I met Mr Ishihara and Mr Tadao Sakamoto on October 4 of the same year. We met at the Japanese restaurant, Kikukawa.

That letter appeared before me for the first time in 15-1/2 years.

Fifteen and a half years. It had been sleeping quietly right beside me for that long.

What had I been doing? No, more importantly, what on earth had I done to Mr Ishihara?

"I'm here, the Shintaro Ishihara that no one else but you can write about. Surely, you're aware of what that means. You understand."

"Quietly from afar, I watched and listened to Toru Kenjo [of Gentosha] exhort you to write about me. Remember? It was during dinner at Nouvelle Epoque in the Hotel Okura. At the time, Kenjo was appreciating the wine being poured into his glass. 'It's good,' Kenjo said. That was very much like him.

"Basically, I'm a writer, but I served as a member of the House of Councillors and as a member of the Lower House for 25 years before resigning. Then, I served as the Governor of Tokyo for 13 years. But that political career is not who I really am. Therefore, I wrote about my 'life' as I saw it. That was in The Life of a Man Called ”I”.

"Now, it's your turn. Just as Kenjo said, you need to write about the Shintaro Ishihara that you know."

The ghost of Shintaro Ishihara made his appearance as a letter to tell me this.

Promises

At page 331 of The Life of a Man Called ”I”, Ishihara wrote, "If misfortune comes to my descendants, especially my children or grandchildren, I'm determined to return in the form of a ghost and protect them."

After he wrote that in his book, probably in spite of himself, he morphed into a ghost and appeared to me.

"If you don't write about me, I can't rest in peace." Such a thought, obsession, and conviction perhaps helped him realize that metamorphosis.

In his book, Mr Ishihara also reminisced about his late younger brother Yujiro Ishihara, stating, "Probably after my death, which will come my way soon, I will have an encounter with him somewhere. Meanwhile, I presume it might never happen." (P 330)

Close to the end of 2022, I contracted COVID-19. Thinking of it as Mr Ishihara's thoughtfulness to show me there was plenty of time, I am writing this now, enveloped with warm feelings.

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