Shintaro Ishihara is one of Japan’s best known and most controversial politicians. He has seen out 4 years as Governor of Tokyo (effectively the Mayor), a post he won with an easy victory in 1999. Now he faces re-election in April, and although he has indicated that he will contest the elections, many think his eye is on the larger political prize, and that he will challenge for Prime Minister as the present incumbent, Koizumi Junichiro, who initially seemed to be in the same radical mould as Ishihara, has been a political disappointment, whereas Ishihara has made real and significant changes in...