<figure id="attachment_437419" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-437419" style="width: 1791px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="58d7697c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/08/5c97a51a705b3c07451bf59688a7a8e9.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-437419" class="wp-caption-text">Shinji Ishimaru announced that he is stepping down from his position as president of The Way of Rebirth. At the press conference, he &#8220;had an exchange&#8221; with a reporter. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> Even the photo has &#8220;malicious intent.</span></h2>
<p> Shinji Ishimaru, 43, has returned to his &#8220;roots.</p>
<p> On August 27, Ishimaru held a press conference to announce that he would step down as party president on September 16 after &#8220;losing&#8221; the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elections in June and the recent Upper House election. At first glance, this may seem like a &#8220;resignation&#8221; to take responsibility for his disastrous election defeat, but in fact, it is a predetermined course of action.</p>
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<p> Ishimaru&#8217;s engine was running full blast from 10 minutes before the press conference began. He was not happy with the articles about his departure, and he was hostile to some of the media. The first target was the Asahi Shimbun.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Shinji Ishimaru to Resign as President of Road to Renewal, Loses Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and House of Councillors Elections</span></p>
<p> The headline read, &#8220;Shinji Ishimaru to Resign as Representative of Road to Rebirth.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> What did you think of the last sentence?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;It gives the impression (of resignation), doesn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</span></p>
<p> Ishimaru&#8217;s theory is that the representative&#8217;s resignation is not a resignation. Ishimaru&#8217;s theory is that the resignation of a representative should be made before or after an election, regardless of the election results, and he seems to be saying that Asahi&#8217;s resignation report is a &#8220;false accusation&#8221; that is reminiscent of &#8220;resignation.</p>
<p> The next target was the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The Nikkei showed a smartphone article in its electronic edition and published a photo of itself with its eyes closed.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;There is malicious intent.</span></p>
<p> This is also a photo of a man with his eyes closed. It seems that this was also perceived as a &#8220;bluff article&#8221; because a photo of him with his eyes closed is associated with a blunder.</p>
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<p> A reporter in charge of politics for a national newspaper also commented on this.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I didn&#8217;t expect them to take a bite out of the photo,&#8221; said a reporter in charge of politics at a national newspaper, &#8220;but I&#8217;ve never seen such a thing before. For example, newspapers do not use smiling photos of celebrities in articles commenting on obituaries. For models and actresses, they use pictures that are as beautiful as possible. If we listened to Mr. Ishimaru, we would have to ask him every time, &#8220;How about this? If we listened to Mr. Ishimaru, we would have to ask him every time, &#8220;What do you think of this? No one in the media would do that.</span></p>
<p> He said, &#8220;No one in the media would do that.</p>
<p> Ishimaru&#8217;s hostility toward the &#8220;old media&#8221; in particular is nothing new. In fact, that is exactly what he is supposed to do.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" In a &quot;direct confrontation&quot; with Mr. Mochizuki, ......"></div>
<h2><span class="strongInContent">The &#8220;Great War of the Monsters&#8221; has come to a head.</span></h2>
<p> In the Tokyo gubernatorial election held last July, Mr. Ishimaru appealed for overthrowing vested interests, including those of the media giant, and won 1.65 million votes, second only to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. In his post-election appearances on TV programs, he questioned the media&#8217;s stance, sometimes using what he called the &#8220;Ishimaru posture&#8221; to push his opponents around.</p>
<p> Political commentator Harumi Arima, who has been a member of the panel since the election, said, &#8220;There were about 26,000 people who voted for Akihiro Abe,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The fact that the mayor of Aki Takata, a city of 26,000 people, was able to win 1.65 million votes in the Tokyo gubernatorial election is unthinkable. What made this possible was Mr. Ishimaru&#8217;s ability to spread his message through SNS. Since his time as mayor, his &#8220;verbal attacks&#8221; on city council members have become a topic of conversation on the Internet. He must know how to use the media well, as he became a topic of conversation at this press conference when he took a hard line against the old media. However, while social networking sites allow you to &#8220;clip&#8221; only what you can see, the press conference is broadcast in its entirety. This is different from the Internet, and there is a possibility that more people will find Mr. Ishimaru &#8220;objectionable.</span></p>
<p> Ishimaru&#8217;s skill is analyzed.</p>
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<p> Mr. Ishimaru is a slasher of the old media. However, as Mr. Arima points out, this is also a relationship of &#8220;co-dependence,&#8221; in that he makes good use of the media.</p>
<p> At this press conference, he engaged in a heated battle with Tokyo Shimbun reporter Kinoshiko Mochizuki, who complained about Ishimaru&#8217;s high-handed attitude. It was undeniably the highlight of the day and was widely circulated on the Internet.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mochizuki is also a belligerent type of reporter, so Ishimaru must have been waiting for her. One reporter in the audience was watching with bated breath, saying, &#8220;The Great Monster War has begun. The two sides&#8217; arguments were parallel, but they seemed to have a good &#8220;chemistry&#8221; as they worked together. When Mr. Ishimaru said to Mr. Mochizuki, who left the room midway through the session, &#8220;Please come again if you like,&#8221; I think he meant it.</span></p>
<p> The media also has a &#8220;pull&#8221; on Mr. Ishimaru, and it is inevitable that the media will pick him up for commercial reasons as well.</p>
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<p> After losing the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and Upper House elections, Mr. Ishimaru was once called a &#8220;wacko,&#8221; but he has regained his form and has literally found a &#8220;path of rebirth.</p>
<p> Will his &#8220;co-dependence&#8221; with the media continue until the Tokyo gubernatorial election in three years, which is said to be his ultimate goal?</p>


 Takayuki Ogawauchi

 The new party "The Way of Rebirth" failed to win seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and the House of Councillors elections. Shinji Ishimaru announced at a press conference that he was stepping down as the party's representative, but he was "bickering" with a crowd of reporters. ......

Shinji Ishimaru vs. Asahi, Nikkei, and Mochizuki: &#8220;Ishimaru Theater&#8221; at the press conference&#8230; &#8220;Co-dependence&#8221; with the media is evident.

Shinji Ishimaru vs. Asahi, Nikkei, and Mochizuki: “Ishimaru Theater” at the press conference… “Co-dependence” with the media is evident.

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