He is the kind of man many Japanese admire -- handsome and well tailored, an avid yachtsman and tennis player, successful politician and novelist. But what makes Shintaro Ishihara, 57, one of the most popular figures in Japan these days is his unapologetic view of the country's pre-eminence on the world stage. As a corollary, he warns the U.S. that its days as a leading economic and industrial power are numbered and that it ignores Japanese interests and sensibilities at its peril.
Ishihara, an outspoken intellectual, first rose to national prominence in 1955, when he published a popular anti-Establishment novel, Season of the Sun. Elected to the Japanese Diet in 1968, he has since served as Transport Minister and head of Japan's environmental agency. Earlier this year, he voiced his strongly nationalistic views in a 160-page volume called The Japan That Can Say No. The book has gained considerable attention in his own country and caused some dismay in Washington, where it is now circulating in an unauthorized bootleg translation.
Co-authored with Sony Chairman Akio Morita, the book was aimed mainly at Japanese readers. In his chapters, Morita echoes much of what he has said elsewhere about America's slothful business habits and loss of competitiveness. But it is Ishirara's chapters that are the most contentious. He asserts that Japan now holds the technological balance of power in the world. The Americans may own the missiles, for example, but they cannot fly straight without Japanese semiconductors. Japan, Ishihara argues, must use its technological leverage to assume its rightful place in the world. No longer must the country walk a respectful, and silent, three steps behind the U.S.
Although Ishihara does not champion the notion of Japanese racial superiority, he argues that race has been a crucial factor in shaping America's "biased, incorrect views" of Japan. "The modern civilization built by whites is coming to a close," he writes, "and I feel that this is adding to the irritation of Americans." He adds that the U.S. is "becoming hysterical because a crucial part of military technology is controlled by an Asian country."
The book, like Ishihara, is decidedly blunt. That in itself is a novelty: most postwar Japanese thinkers, obsessed with war guilt and appreciative of America's magnanimity during and after the Occupation, have largely preferred a cautious, indirect approach when writing about relations with the U.S. But the new assertiveness shown by Ishihara intrigues many Japanese citizens: in a recent poll, his name placed third among likely candidates for the prime ministership. Many political insiders feel he is too controversial to get the top job. But Ishihara himself insists that "Japan needs a leader who can say yes or no clearly," as he told TIME's Seiichi Kanise in the following interview.
Q. Your book The Japan That Can Say No, co-authored with Morita, is generating controversy in Washington. Are you surprised?