Ishihara becoming the head of the JRP. Your Party would not join the party, nor would Genzei Nippon, as the latter party's anti-consumption tax increase policy did not match the JRP's pro-consumption tax policy. Reporting on a poll in early December 2012, Asahi Shimbun characterized the merger with Japan Restoration Party as the latter having "swallowed up" Sunrise. The poll, in advance of the 16 December Lower House elections, also said the association with SP could hurt JRP's chances of forming a ruling coalition even though JRP was showing strength relative to the ruling DPJ. Party for Future Generations In the December 2014 general elections he was a candidate for the Party for Future Generations, an extreme right-wing party, but was defeated. Following this, he retired from politics. Political views Ishihara is generally described as having been one of Japan's most prominent extreme right-wing politicians. He was called "Japan's Le Pen" on a program broadcast on Australia's ABC. He was affiliated with the openly ultranationalist organization Nippon Kaigi. Foreign relations Ishihara was a long-term friend of the prominent Aquino family in the Philippines. He is credited with being been the first person to inform future President Corazon Aquino about the assassination of her husband Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. on 21 August 1983. Ishihara was often critical of Japan's foreign policy as being non-assertive. Regarding Japan's relationship with the U.S., he stated that "The country I dislike most in terms of U.S.–Japan ties is Japan, because it's a country that can't assert itself." As part of the criticism, Ishihara published a book co-authored with the then Prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, titled "No" to ieru Ajia – tai Oubei e no hōsaku in 1994. Ishihara was also long critical of the government of the People's Republic of China. He invited the Dalai Lama and the President of the Republic of China Lee Teng-hui to Tokyo. Ishihara was deeply interested in the North Korean abduction issue, and called for economic sanctions against North Korea. Following Ishihara's campaign to bid Tokyo for the 2016 Summer Olympics, he eased his criticism of the PRC government. He accepted an invitation to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was selected as a torch-bearer for the Japan leg of the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay. Views on foreigners in Japan On 9 April 2000, in a speech before a Self-Defense Forces group, Ishihara said crimes