May be of interest:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rufusis/japanno/part01.html
"Shintaro Ishihara has been described in some news accounts as a right-wing extremist, and Morita's association with him has been described as a foolish mistake. These accounts are very misleading; so nearly as I can tell, Mr. Ishihara is no more an extremist in his country than, say, Bob Dole is in ours. He is a somewhat right-of-center, charismatic and powerful member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who placed third in the race to succeed Prime Minister Sosuke Uno this past August. Ishihara has served as the Minister of Transport, and is currently a member of the Diet, Japan's legislative body."
An excellent assessment!