Tomiichi Murayama (村山 富市, Murayama Tomiichi, born 3 March 1924) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1994 to 1996. He led the Japan Socialist Party, and was responsible for changing its name to the Social Democratic Party of Japan in 1996. Upon becoming Prime Minister, he was Japan's first socialist leader in nearly fifty years. He is most remembered today for his speech "On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the War's end", in which he publicly apologised for Japan's past colonial rule and aggression. Of the ten living former prime ministers of Japan, he is currently the oldest living prime minister, following the death of Yasuhiro Nakasone on 29 November 2019. Murayama is also the only living former Japanese prime minister who was born in the Taishō era.
Tomiichi Murayama | |
---|---|
村山富市 | |
Prime Minister of Japan | |
In office 30 June 1994 – 11 January 1996 | |
Monarch | Akihito |
Preceded by | Tsutomu Hata |
Succeeded by | Ryutaro Hashimoto |
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party | |
In office 25 September 1993 – 28 September 1996 | |
Preceded by | Sadao Yamahana |
Succeeded by | Takako Doi |
Member of the House of Representatives for Oita 1st district | |
In office 11 December 1972 – 19 May 1980 | |
Preceded by | Isamu Murakami |
Succeeded by | Isamu Murakami |
In office 19 December 1983 – 2 June 2000 | |
Preceded by | Isamu Murakami |
Succeeded by | Ban Kugimiya |
Member of the Ōita Assembly for Ōita City | |
In office 1963–1972 | |
Member of the Ōita City Council | |
In office 1955–1963 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Ōita, Empire of Japan | 3 March 1924
Political party | Social Democratic Party |
Other political affiliations | Japan Socialist Party (Until 1996) |
Spouse | Yoshie Murayama (m. 1953) |
Alma mater | Meiji University |
Signature | |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Japan |
Service/ | Imperial Japanese Army |
Years of service | 1944–1945 |
Rank | Officer candidate |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Murayama was born in Ōita Prefecture on 3 March 1924; his father was a fisherman.[2][3] He was the sixth son of eleven children. His father passed away when he was fourteen, forcing him to deliver newspapers and work small jobs to help make a living.[4] After graduating from Oita Municipal High School in 1938, he moved to Tokyo, and began working at a printing factory during the day, and studied at the Tokyo Municipal School of Commerce at night.
He entered Meiji University in 1943 as a philosophy student, but was mobilised in 1944 and assigned to work in the Ishikawajima shipyards. Later that year, he was drafted into the Imperial Army and assigned to the 72nd Infantry of the 23rd Brigade of the 23rd Division as a private second class. He was demobilised following Japan's surrender with the rank of officer candidate, and finished the war as a cadet with the rank of sergeant. Following the death of Yasuhiro Nakasone in 2019 and of Giorgio Napolitano in 2023, Murayama is the only living former prime minister with military service connected to the war.[citation needed] He graduated from Meiji University in 1946, and in 1948, he became the general secretary of the Oita Prefecture Fishing Village Youth League. After the Fishing Village Youth Alliance was disbanded after achieving successes such as establishing a fisheries cooperative, he subsequently worked as the secretary of the Oita Prefectural Employees' Labor Union.[5]
In 1951, he ran for election as a member of the Oita City Council, but was defeated as runner-up. In 1953, he married his wife, Yoshie Murayama. In 1955, he ran for the Oita City Council again, and was elected as a member of the Japan Socialist Party, being elected twice after. After serving for eight years, he ran for the Prefectural Assembly of Oita in 1963, and was elected, there serving for nine years. He then ran in the 1972 Japanese general election for the former Oita's 1st, being placed at the top of the list and winning. He was then elected nine more times in the district. In 1973, he joined the "New Flow Association" with Takahiro Yokomichi and Hideo Den.
When Makoto Tanabe replaced Takako Doi as Chairman of the JSP, Murayama became chairman of the National Diet Committee. At the so called "Peacekeeping session" in 1992, where it was debated if the Japan Self-Defense Forces should participate in United Nations peacekeeping work, Murayama took the role of the primary opposition leader to the bill. Nevertheless, it passed with the support of the LDP and other liberal parties. As he was involved with other parties due to his role as Chair of Diet Affairs, he had connections with several other party higher ups, including Seiroku Kajiyama of the LDP and Takeho Kanzaki of Komeito. In January 1993, Sadao Yamahana replaced Makoto Tanabe as chairman of the Socialist Party, but Murayama remained as chairman of the National Diet Committee.
In July, later that year, the 1993 election saw the LDP lose over 50 seats, and the JSP under Sadao Yamahana took a similar tumble, losing seats to new opposition parties such as the Japan Renewal Party or the Japan New Party, both under LDP defectors Tsutomu Hata and Morihiro Hosokawa respectively. In August, the Hosokawa Cabinet - the first non-LDP cabinet since the party's formation - was established. The JSP, despite being the biggest party, was not given the Prime Minister spot. Instead, Sadao Yamahana was named Minister in Charge of Political Reform. Yamahana resigned from JSP leadership to take responsibility for the poor showing in the 1993 election. Murayama was elected as leader without much in the way of opposition, appointing Wataru Kubo as General-Secretary. The Hosokawa cabinet survived for a year - it managed to pass the 1994 Japanese electoral reform, before Hosokawa resigned following revelations of a campaign finance scandal.[6][7]
Following Hosokawa's resignation, bickering began over who would succeed him, with every party from the Hosokawa Cabinet eventually picking Tsutomu Hata. The Hata Cabinet was soon after sworn in with a confidence vote; however, just a few days after, the combined forces of the Japan Renewal Party, Kōmeitō, Democratic Socialist Party, Liberal Reform Federation, Japan New Party would form a unified parliamentary group, the "Kaishin", with the goal of undercutting JSP influence in the Hata Cabinet. The group would go on to form the New Frontier Party soon after. Murayama felt betrayed by the announcement - he announced the JSP would withdrawal from the coalition, leaving it with minority status. An internal battle waged in the JSP, with other leaders, such as Wataru Kubo, believing they should return to the Hata Cabinet.
On June 25th, the Hata Cabinet resigned en masse, believing they would not survive a confidence vote. Yōhei Kōno soon after entered talks with Murayama on the possibility of a grand coalition; they came to an agreement where Murayama would inherit the Prime Ministership from Hata soon after. However, several LDP heavyweights disagreed with the idea, including Yasuhiro Nakasone and Toshiki Kaifu, who stated that "We cannot support the chairman of the Socialist Party as the leader." A challenged to Murayama then emerged from Kaifu, who was nominated by rebel LDP members for Prime Minister. With no majority in the Japanese House of Representatives, a run-off was held between Kaifu and Murayama, which Murayama then won, making him the first Socialist Prime Minister since the LDP had formed in 1955.
Murayama became prime minister on 30 June 1994. The cabinet was based on a coalition consisting of the Japan Socialist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the New Party Sakigake.
Because of the unwieldy coalition, his leadership was not strong. His party had been opposed to the Security Pact between Japan and the United States, but he stated that this pact was in accordance with the Constitution of Japan and disappointed many of his Socialist supporters. His government was criticised for not dealing quickly with the Great Hanshin earthquake that hit Japan on 17 January 1995.[8] Just two months later on 20 March, the Aum Shinrikyo cult carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
As prime minister, Murayama apologised for Japan's colonial rule and aggression.[9] In social policy, various reforms were carried out in areas such as labour rights, care for the elderly,[10] child support, and assistance for people with disabilities.[11] In 1995, a law on family-care leave was introduced which made it mandatory for employers to grant a maximum of three consecutive months leave to male and female employees who need to take constant care of a family member, and prohibited employers from dismissing employees for taking family-care leave.[12] Safety standards concerning mobile cranes were established in 1995, and amendments made to the Radiation Safety Law of 1960 and the Radiation Safety Law of 1957 in 1995 extended coverage to previously excluded rental business workers, rental business offices, and rental businesses.[13] Amendments made to the Radiation Hindrance Prevention Law of 1957 in 1995 extended the law to cover rental business workers, rental business offices, and rental businesses.[14] In July 1995, a law came into effect that imposed strict liability, or liability without fault, upon manufacturers and importers of defective products.[15][16] The Food Sanitation Law of 1995 introduced a comprehensive food safety system.[17] In 1995, an amendment to the Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law made gun possession a more serious offence,[18] and the Science and Technology Basic Law passed that same year provided the framework of Japan's science and technology policy.[19]
In 1995, the Mental Health Act was revised to improve psychiatric and medical treatment and psychiatric rehabilitation "and to ensure coordination among the mental health system and other health, social service, and administrative sectors".[20] The Container and Package Recycling Law of 1995 prescribed "obligatory duties of business parties for recycling containers and packaging,"[21] while a 1995 amendment to the Mental Health Law introduced a system to provide a health and welfare handbook for people with mental disorders, and a Government Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities was launched that same year. In addition, new comprehensive employment measures were introduced.[22]
In the 1995 Japanese House of Councillors election, his party lost seats. He expressed his wish to resign from the office of prime minister, but his supporters opposed his resignation.[citation needed] A few months later, he resigned and was replaced by Ryutaro Hashimoto, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party.
In 2000, Murayama retired from politics. He and Mutsuko Miki traveled to North Korea in 2000 to promote better bilateral relations between the two countries.[23]
Murayama became the president of the Asian Women's Fund, a quasi-government body that was set up to provide compensation for former comfort women.[24] After providing compensation and working on various projects, the fund was dissolved on 31 March 2007.[25]
Murayama turned 100 on 3 March 2024.[26]
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This article incorporates text from OpenHistory.