Tomiichi Murayama
Tomiichi Murayama | |
|---|---|
村山 富市 | |
Official portrait, 1994 | |
| Prime Minister of Japan | |
| In office 30 June 1994 – 11 January 1996 | |
| Monarch | Akihito |
| Deputy | Yōhei Kōno Ryutaro Hashimoto |
| Preceded by | Tsutomu Hata |
| Succeeded by | Ryutaro Hashimoto |
| Chairman of the Social Democratic Party | |
| In office 19 January 1996 – 28 September 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Himself (as JSP Chair) |
| Succeeded by | Takako Doi |
| Chairman of the Japan Socialist Party | |
| In office 25 September 1993 – 19 January 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Sadao Yamahana |
| Succeeded by | Himself (as SDP Chair) |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| In office 19 December 1983 – 2 June 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Tadafumi Hatano |
| Succeeded by | Ban Kugimiya |
| Constituency | Former Ōita 1st (1983–1996) Ōita 1st (1996–2000) |
| In office 11 December 1972 – 19 May 1980 | |
| Preceded by | Sakae Aizawa |
| Succeeded by | Tadafumi Hatano |
| Constituency | Former Ōita 1st |
| Member of the Ōita Prefectural Assembly | |
| In office 1963–1972 | |
| Constituency | Ōita City |
| Member of the Ōita City Council | |
| In office 1955–1963 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 March 1924 |
| Died | 17 October 2025 (aged 101) Ōita, Japan |
| Party | Social Democratic (1996–2025) |
| Other political affiliations | Left Socialist (1951–1955) Socialist (1955–1996) |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | Meiji University |
| Signature | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Japan |
| Branch | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Service years | 1944–1945 |
| Rank | Officer candidate |
| Conflict | World War II |
Tomiichi Murayama (村山 富市, Murayama Tomiichi; 3 March 1924 – 17 October 2025) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1994 to 1996. He was the country's first socialist premier since Tetsu Katayama in 1948, and is best remembered for the Murayama Statement on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, in which he officially apologized for Japan's past colonial wars and aggression.
Born in Ōita Prefecture, Murayama graduated from Meiji University in 1946, and became a labor union official in his home prefecture. He was elected to the Ōita City Council in 1955 as a member of the Japan Socialist Party; he was then elected to the Ōita Prefectural Assembly in 1963 and to the National Diet in 1972.
After the JSP joined the government following the 1993 election, he became its leader, then became prime minister in 1994 as the head of a new coalition of the JSP, Liberal Democratic Party, and New Party Sakigake. During his time as prime minister, Murayama was noted for his Murayama Statement in which he apologised for the country's actions during World War II, oversaw a crumbling relationship between Japan and the United States, and his government was criticized for its responses to the Great Hanshin earthquake and Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995. He resigned as prime minister in 1996, and reorganized the JSP as the Social Democratic Party. The new party lost many of its seats in the 1996 election, and he resigned as its leader soon after.