Mishima's political activities were controversial, and he remains a controversial figure in modern Japan.[7][8][9][10] Ideologically, Mishima was a right-winger who extolled the traditional culture and spirit of Japan. He opposed what he saw as western-style materialism, along with Japan's postwar democracy, globalism, and communism, worrying that by embracing these ideas the Japanese people would lose their "national essence" (kokutai) and their distinctive cultural heritage (Shinto and Yamato-damashii) to