The four Ishihara brothers, whose father Shintaro Ishihara passed away three years ago - eldest son Nobuaki, second son Yoshizumi, third son Hirotaka, and fourth son Nobuhiro - appeared on Kuroyanagi Tetsuko's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on November 17th. They talked about their memories of Shintaro.
Before Shintaro passed away, his brothers took turns staying in his hospital room. Yoshizumi, who felt he hadn't spoken much to Shintaro, confessed, "It was New Year's Eve, and (Shintaro) said, 'I'm going to bed now,' and was being selfish, saying, 'Bring me some sleeping pills,' and 'I'm going to work.' When I said, 'Dad, we don't get a chance like this anymore, so let's have a talk,' he yelled at me, 'Who do you think you are? Don't get carried away just because you did a little work. How dare you talk to your parents!'"
The next night, Hirotaka stayed over. "At that time, (Shintaro) wasn't in much spirits and seemed to be sleeping most of the time. At about 11:30 p.m., he suddenly said, 'I want to drink whiskey.' (I brought it to Shintaro) He took a couple of sips and then fell asleep. I think his brother was the one who was able to talk to our father," he recalled. Yoshizumi chimed in, saying, "I didn't talk to him! He yelled at me (laughs)."
Nobuaki stayed overnight on the third day. "He woke me up at about 2 a.m. saying, 'Hey, bring me some brandy.' I had no choice but to give it to him in a glass, and he just licked it. He continued talking about random things like, 'What was the name of your girlfriend when you were in college?' It was a conversation that made me feel like I was spinning around in time and space, and that my dad was in a completely different place," he recalled.
One day, I had the following conversation with Nobuhiro: "We were talking about the prospect of death, and (Shintaro) asked me, 'What was the most important job of my life?' I replied, 'I think I was able to bring a new approach to the creative world,' and 'I just feel so nostalgic. I can't help but feel nostalgic.'"
Yoshizumi expressed his regret by saying, "That's the kind of story I wanted to talk about!", drawing laughter.
