- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 April 2000 01.43 BST
The comments are likely to add fresh fuel to a blazing row over racism, which has long been seen in Japan as a problem suffered only by other, less homogeneous countries.
"Crimes by illegal immigrants are rising rapidly," said the governor, who is famed for his outspoken nationalist views. "Japanese people can no longer walk the streets of the Ikebukuro and Shinjuku districts at night. Those places are like other countries. Even the yakuza don't dare to go in."
Mr Ishihara was defending a controversial speech he made last weekend when he warned Japanese troops to prepare for an uprising by foreigners in the aftermath of a major earthquake. For the hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Korean residents, the speech was a frightening throwback to the attitudes of a bloody past.
In the wake of Tokyo's last big earthquake in 1923, Japanese troops and police massacred 6,000 Koreans after an unfounded rumour that they were poisoning well water.
Yesterday, the governor expressed pity for those victims and said he would protect all of the city's residents in a future calamity.
"I would never give an order to kill foreigners," he told the Guardian. But he insisted that illegal immigrants and racial minorities were the main source of danger.
"After the Los Angeles quake, it was ethnic minorities, including blacks and Hispanics, who went looting. The same thing would happen here," he said. "Although some Japanese might take part in riots, the strongest fear is about areas with high levels of illegal immigrants."
The governor's remarks have sparked a furious backlash by China, North Korea and foreigners' groups inside Japan.
"It is a criminal statement that incites xenophobia and discrimination against all foreign residents," said a spokesman for one group of migrant workers.
The group joined a gathering of celebrities and protesters outside the metropolitan government building to demand the resignation of Mr Ishihara.
Government ministers from the conservative Liberal Democratic party (LDP) were more circumspect in their criticism. The new prime minister, Yoshiro Mori, said only that the governor's expression was "inappropriate".
This caution may reflect a feeling in the LDP that the views of Mr Ishihara - a populist who has risen to power by tapping public frustration at Japan's prolonged economic stagnation - are widely held.
More than a hundred people have already telephoned the Tokyo government to express their support for the governor.
Fewer than 1.5% of Japan's 126m citizens are not indigenous, but this is expected to change dramatically in the years ahead.
According to a recent UN study, Japan will need 600,000 immigrant workers by 2050 to make up for low fertility rates and the world's fastest ageing population.
The need for more gaijin (literally, outside people) is disconcerting to many Japanese, who fear a rising wave of crime that is commonly blamed on foreigners, especially illegal immigrants.
Although the government has recognised the need for more foreign workers, debate has not even started on making the necessary social adjustments. There are no laws banning racism. Estate agents openly refuse to rent property to foreigners and several bath houses have banned gaijin .
The problem is barely ever discussed, but inadvertently Mr Ishihara - who insists he is not a racist - has changed all that.
