US EditionTomiichi Murayama, Japanese Leader Who Gave War Apology, Dies at 101
Murayama led a coalition government from 1994 to 1996 and issued a 1995 apology that set a precedent for Japan's leaders on wartime aggression, officials said.
- Friday, Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama died aged 101 in Oita, local reports said he died of old age in a local hospital.
- Murayama's Aug. 15, 1995 statement apologised for Japan's wartime aggression using unprecedented remorse, becoming Tomiichi Murayama, Former Prime Minister's most notable legacy.
- On June 29, 1994, Tomiichi Murayama became the 81st prime minister leading a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party and Sakigake, managing the Jan. 17, 1995 6.9 magnitude Kobe earthquake and March 1995 sarin attack before leaving office in 1996.
- The apology was welcomed by the United States and regional neighbours, while Shinzo Abe's less apologetic tone and constitutional revision plans strained relations with China and South Korea.
- Born on March 3, 1924, Tomiichi Murayama graduated from Meiji University in 1946, helped build a fisheries union, and retired from politics in 2000.
143 Articles
143 Articles
At the age of 101, Japan's former Prime Minister Murayama died.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama has died. He was 101 years old. Murayama served as Prime Minister from 1994 to 1996 and became best known for apologizing for Japan's role in World War II. Murayama was a member of the Socialist Party. In August 1995, fifty years after Japan's surrender, he issued the Murayama Declaration. In it, he publicly expressed regret on behalf of the government for Japan's wartime past. The statement state…
He had long white eyebrows and a catchphrase: "That's right." Despite being chairman of the Socialist Party, he was pushed by the Liberal Democratic Party, which had always been his rival, and took charge of a government that was like a "bad flower" during a period of political restructuring. He then carved his name into political history with his Prime Minister's Address marking 50 years since the end of the war.
In 1995 Murayama asked for an apology for his country's aggressions during World War II – more clearly than heads of government did before and after. Now he died in old age.
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