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Tomiichi Murayama died this Friday (10/17), aged 101. He died of natural causes in a hospital in Oita, Kyushu province, the Social Democratic Party said in a statement.
At the head of a heterogeneous coalition between the conservative Liberal Democratic Party and his own Socialist Party, he held office from 1994 to 1996, during a turbulent period that included the devastating 1995 earthquake in western Japan and the sarin gas attack carried out by the apocalyptic cult Aum Shinrikyo in the Tokyo subway.
Murayama became known as . In the statement issued on August 15, 1995, the former prime minister used unprecedented language to apologize for Japan’s actions during a conflict that left a legacy of bitterness among its Asian neighbors.
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Apology
“During a certain period not too distant in the past, Japan, following a misguided national policy, took the path of war… and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused immense damage and suffering to the people of many countries, especially those of Asian nations,” he said in a solemn nationally broadcast press conference.
“I acknowledge, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history and express here, once again, my deep feelings of regret and offer my sincere apology.”
The apology was the defining milestone of Murayama’s 18 months in office. He went further than any other Japanese leader before him in expressing regret for the murders, torture and rape of millions of civilians and other atrocities. But he was severely limited by conservatives in his ruling coalition, and the statement was not strong enough to ease resentment in China and South Korea.
Simple life
Murayama was born in Oita Prefecture in southern Japan, one of 11 children of a fisherman. After studying at night at a commercial school in Tokyo and serving in the military, he graduated from Meiji University in 1946 and became general secretary of a fishermen’s cooperative, which he helped turn into a union.
After serving in the provincial assembly of Oita, in the south of the country, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1972. In 1993, the Socialist Party joined a pro-reform government after a devastating electoral defeat by the PLD. Murayama was elected party leader later that year and became prime minister in 1994.
It was soon criticized for its slow response to the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that devastated the city of Kobe and surrounding regions on January 17, 1995, killing more than 6,000 people.
Murayama resigned in 1996 and left politics in 2000, living modestly on his pension in southern Japan.
