Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Sunrise Party, later merged with Toru Hashimoto's Japan Restoration Party out of which he split his faction into the Party for Japanese Kokoro, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultranationalist, he was infamous for his misogynistic comments, his racist remarks, his xenophobic views and his hatred of Chinese and Koreans, including his use of the antiquated pejorative term "sangokujin". He was also a denier of the Nanjing Massacre.