Author

Junghwan Lee, Kookmin University

Abstract

While Ishihara Shintaro has received widespread support among the public in modern Japanese society, he also shows the limitations of operating as a minority within Japan’s post-war political system. Ishihara was able to generate public support by maintaining his rebel-like image toward the traditional political system as portrayed in his novel, Season of the Sun. His tendency to attack mainstream politics reflected his rebellious attitude throughout his political career. We can attribute the wide popularity of Ishihara’s exclusively nationalistic and masculine mentality to the fact that the majority of Japanese have tacitly supporting the abolition of the traditional order. Ishihara was able to accentuate himself through masculine self-expression in Japanese society in which aggressive self-expression was uncommon. However, his rebellious tendencies impeded his ambitions to convert his public support into the political success he sought to obtain.

The full text in Korean is available here