Playback ’15] “Shintaro Ishihara’s Walking in Great Vigor,” Despite Whispers of His Serious Illness

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we revisit the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we will introduce “Ishihara Shintaro: A Scoop on His Big Walk to Revive Himself! in the July 17, 2003 issue.

Shintaro Ishihara (died in 2010 at the age of 89), who retired from politics in 2002, was rushed to the hospital on June 7 of that year after complaining of a sudden headache during a lecture in Shimane Prefecture. The day after he was taken to the hospital, he told the press, “I’m fine now, and I’ve been released from the hospital without charge.” Although he behaved cheerfully, there were whispers that he was “seriously ill” since he had been hospitalized for a stroke in 2001 as well. In late June, “FRIDAY” captured this article on Ishihara’s condition. （Descriptions in parentheses are quotes from past articles. (All ages and titles are as of that time.)

No longer a respectable jogger

A group of high school boys who passed by him looked back again and again in surprise.
It was late June evening, and strolling alone in one of Tokyo’s most exclusive residential areas was Shintaro Ishihara, 82, former governor of Tokyo and author.

Roughly dressed in a modest navy blue workout outfit and white sneakers, Ishihara still looks youthful today, thanks to his tanned skin and frizzy hair. Looking at her gait, it would appear that the stouthearted manner in which she appeared after being taken to the hospital in Shimane was not a sign of strength.

She walks at a brisk pace with a narrow stride. It was no longer a walk, but more of a stroll. No matter how many stares he received from his neighbors, Mr. Ishihara kept walking with his eyes straight ahead.

About 15 minutes after leaving his home, he makes a U-turn. At that moment, he lightly shook his arms and slightly increased his speed, which at 82 years of age is already a fine jogging pace.

When he was rushed to the hospital in Shimane,” said Dr. Kikuchi, “there were about 1,500 people at the lecture, so he was overjoyed and said, ‘I was just so excited. His doctor accompanied him to the site, so he survived, but he would have been in a dangerous situation if he had continued to give the lecture.

The Ishihara family has a history of high blood pressure, and Shintaro is usually a worrier, rushing to the hospital whenever he feels something is wrong. The stroke he had two years ago was a minor one, with no aftereffects, and he has no problems now. I take walks to build up my physical strength. I hear that he makes it a part of his daily routine when he is at home.

On June 19, he made a one-day trip to attend a party given by then Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto. It was a surprise that Hashimoto did not know about until just before the party. There, he told Hashimoto, “You are the kind of person who should not quit politics,” to which he was applauded.

After jogging about 150 meters, Mr. Ishihara returned to walking, and after a while, he went for another short run. He repeated this several times, guzzling beverages from plastic bottles along the way, and made a circuit of the area around his home in about 2 km, or about 30 minutes.

In “My Sea” (Gentosha), published in 2002, he wrote, “No need for a funeral ceremony, no need for a Buddhist memorial service. In “My Sea” (Gentosha), published in 2002, Mr. Ishihara wrote in his last will and testament, “No need for funeral rites, no need for a Buddhist memorial service, and I want my bones to be scattered in the sea.

I want people to hate me to death.

Ishihara resigned from the House of Representatives in 1995 after 25 years in office, and four years later became governor of Tokyo, serving four terms of 13 years. Calling himself an “80-year-old runaway old man,” he and Hashimoto won 54 seats in the Diet. However, in 2002, he parted company with Hashimoto and launched the “Next Generation Party,” but lost his seat in the lower house election and announced his retirement from politics.

Although Ishihara was often criticized for his outspoken views, such as his discriminatory comments against Korean and Chinese residents in Japan and his comment that the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake was “divine punishment” (which he later retracted and apologized for), he implemented a series of drastic policies during his term as governor of Tokyo that only he could have implemented. The regulation of diesel vehicles, which overcame opposition from the diesel industry, and the internationalization of Haneda Airport, which took advantage of his access to the national government, are examples of policies that could only have been implemented by Mr. Ishihara. In addition, on the issue of territorial rights to the Senkaku Islands, he demonstrated his willingness to purchase the islands for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which later led to their nationalization.

In ’17, he was denounced over the issue of the relocation of the Toyosu market, but after retiring from politics, Mr. Ishihara seems to have spent his days writing and lecturing generally peacefully.’ Even after his pancreatic cancer recurred in 2009 and he was told he had only three months to live, he continued to write for one to two hours a day until one week before his death.

At a press conference announcing his retirement from politics, Ishihara said, “I want to say what I want to say and do what I want to do until I die, and die hated by people. There may have been people who hated him, but there is no doubt that he was a man who will remain in the hearts of many more people than that.