Saturday, October 18, 2025

A00153 Tomiichi Murayama, Japanese Prime Minister Who Issued an Apology for World War II Actions

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Tomiichi Murayama
村山 富市
Official portrait, 1994
Prime Minister of Japan
In office
30 June 1994 – 11 January 1996
MonarchAkihito
DeputyYōhei Kōno
Ryutaro Hashimoto
Preceded byTsutomu Hata
Succeeded byRyutaro Hashimoto
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party[a]
In office
25 September 1993 – 28 September 1996
Preceded bySadao Yamahana
Succeeded byTakako Doi
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
19 December 1983 – 2 June 2000
Preceded byTadafumi Hatano
Succeeded byBan Kugimiya
ConstituencyFormer Ōita 1st (1983–1996)
Ōita 1st (1996–2000)
In office
11 December 1972 – 19 May 1980
Preceded bySakae Aizawa
Succeeded byTadafumi Hatano
ConstituencyFormer Ōita 1st
Member of the Ōita Prefectural Assembly
In office
1963–1972
ConstituencyŌita City
Member of the Ōita City Council
In office
1955–1963
Personal details
Born3 March 1924
Ōita, Japan
Died17 October 2025 (aged 101)
Ōita, Japan
Political partySocial Democratic (1996–2025)
Other political
affiliations		Left Socialist (1951–1955)
Socialist (1955–1996)
Spouse
Yoshie Murayama
​
​
(m. 1953; died 2024)​
Alma materMeiji University
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Japan
Branch Imperial Japanese Army
Service years1944–1945
RankOfficer candidate
ConflictWorld War II
a. ^ Chairman of the Japan Socialist Party until 19 January 1996.

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Murayama Tomiichi (born March 23, 1924, Ōita, Japan—died October 17, 2025, Ōita, Japan) was a politician who in 1994–96 was the first Socialist prime minister of Japan since 1948.

One of 11 children born to a fisherman, Murayama graduated from Meiji University in Tokyo in 1946 and then returned to Ōita, where he became an activist in the local fishermen’s union. Most of his subsequent political career was spent in relative obscurity. He won election to the Ōita city assembly in 1955 and moved up to a seat in the Ōita prefectural assembly in 1963. He was elected to the lower house of the Diet (parliament) in 1972 as a member of the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) and was successively reelected thereafter. Murayama first gained national recognition when, as a compromise candidate, he became the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDJP; the party’s new official name in English from 1991) in 1993.

The SDJP was a member of a seven-party coalition that came to power in 1993 and ended almost three decades of uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In April 1994, however, Murayama abruptly withdrew his party’s support from Hata Tsutomu, the second prime minister elected by the coalition. When Hata resigned two months later, Murayama succeeded him as prime minister on June 29 on the strength of an unprecedented alliance between the SDJP and the LDP. Murayama helped hold the fragile new coalition together, but he never had a firm grasp on power. On January 5, 1996, he resigned and was succeeded six days later by Hashimoto Ryūtarō of the LDP.

One of Murayama’s most notable acts as prime minister was issuing an apology regarding his country’s aggression during World War II. On August 15, 1995, the 50th anniversary of Japan announcing its surrender, he stated:

During a certain period in the not too distant past, Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations. In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology. Allow me also to express my feelings of profound mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, of that history.

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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.

Early life and education

A teenage Murayama while working at a printing company

Murayama was born in Ōita Prefecture on 3 March 1924; his father was a fisherman.[1][2] He was the sixth son of eleven children. His father died when he was fourteen, forcing him to deliver newspapers and work small jobs to help make a living.[3] 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.[4]

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.[4] 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. 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.[4]

Political career

In 1951, he ran for election as a member of the Oita City Council, but was defeated as runner-up.[5] In 1953, he married his wife, Yoshie Murayama.[4] 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.[5] After serving for eight years, he ran for the Prefectural Assembly of Oita in 1963, and was elected, there serving for nine years.[5] 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.[4]

Parliamentary career

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.[8] The group would go on to form the New Frontier Party soon after. Murayama felt betrayed as he was never offered a cabinet position.[4]

On 25 June, 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 "I cannot bring myself to write the name of Murayama on the ballot".[9] A challenge 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.[4] His rise to become prime minister was described as "sudden and unexpected" by The New York Times.[4]

Premiership (1994–1996)

See also: Murayama Cabinet

The Murayama Cabinet was a coalition government, sometimes described as a grand coalition, which played a significant part in ending the often explosive LDP-JSP conflict which had dominated every election prior, even with third parties beginning to form in the seventies and eighties.[4][10] The coalition was described by The New York Times as a "lopsided deal that left Mr. Murayama at the mercy of the Liberal Democrats."[4]

Cabinet of Tomiichi Murayama

In his policy speech after taking office as Prime Minister, he stated his wish for "people-friendly politics" and "peace of mind politics" as his administrative policies.[11]

Murayama Statement

Main article: Murayama Statement

At a ceremony commemorating the end of the Pacific War, Murayama announced the "Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the War's End", an official apology for the "invasion" and "colonial domination" of Asia that Japan undertook before and during the Pacific War and Second Sino-Japanese War. The Prime Minister issued a statement entitled "On the Commemoration of the End of World War II" after a unified Cabinet meeting. All successive cabinets since Murayama have clearly stated that they will follow the statement. The aptly name "Murayama Statement" has become established, and it is treated as the official position of the Japanese government.[12][4]

Reactions to the Murayama Statement

At the time of his statement, Murayama said he was just "stating the obvious thing". He did not expect that his successor, Ryutaro Hashimoto, would fully respect the statement. All cabinets since have clearly stated their intention to respect the statement.[13][14]

The Murayama Statement is considered to be the official historical understanding taken by the Japanese government.[12] Junichiro Koizumi also issued the Koizumi Statement on the 60th anniversary of the war's end in 2005, which followed the Murayama Statement.[15]

Conservative politicians and others have made comments which often differ from the Statement with denial for crimes committed by Japan, and for this, they are usually criticized heavily by the governments of China and South Korea.[16][17] Most undertake the purview that "Japan has officially apologized and compensated the countries concerned for the acts of aggression it allegedly committed during the war, there is no need for further apologies." Others have also stated that the Murayama Statement was pointless, with the fact that Japan committed the acts being something that can not be helped.[18]

In November 2008, Chief of the Air Staff Toshio Tamogami published a paper titled "Was Japan an aggressive nation?". He was heavily criticized by incumbent Prime Minister Tarō Asō for straying from the view established by the Murayama Statement, and was fired, with Tamogami going on to become a significant figure for the far-right in Japan, as displayed by his run in the 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election.[19]

Before taking office as prime minister, Shinzo Abe had made statements critical of the Murayama Statement, and attention was being drawn both domestically and internationally to see what kind of statement Shinzo Abe will issue in 2015 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. But on 5 January of the same year, At the New Year's press conference, he stated, "The Abe Cabinet has inherited the positions of previous cabinets, including the Murayama Statement. On that basis, I would like to announce a new, future-oriented statement", making it clear that the Abe Cabinet would at-least somewhat respect the Murayama Statement.[20]

Establishment of Asian Women's Fund

In August 1994, a plan was announced to provide condolence money through private funds to women and families who were forced by Japanese soldiers in World War 2 to work as comfort women.[4] In July 1995, the Asian Women's Fund was established under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Murayama encouraged this. In January 1997, the fund began distributing yen to former Korean comfort women.[4]

Before the establishment of the Murayama Cabinet, lawsuits were filed by former comfort women in various locations demanding state-funded damage compensation and an apology from the Japanese government for its actions. However, the Japanese government took the position that these issues had been resolved when treaties were concluded with other countries, and it was considered impossible to compensate former comfort women through the use of state funds. Under the concept presented by Murayama, the government would establish a fund and the funds would be donated by the private sector, thereby avoiding direct investment of national funds and conveying the sincere feelings of the people who responded to the donations. The aim was to solve the problem, not through the government, but through private organizations. Regarding the background to its establishment, Murayama himself said, "There are those who say, 'There should be government compensation', while others say, 'All wartime reparations have been legally resolved. There is no need to revisit them now.' There is a wide gap in opinion both domestically and internationally, with some saying, 'I paid my dues properly.'[21] we found common ground and managed to launch the fund. As the former comfort women continue to age, we have managed to convey the feelings of apology from the Japanese people while they were still alive, and those who went through heartbreaking experiences. Despite various criticisms, this was the only option available under the pressing circumstances of the time."[21]

Fumibei Hara became the first president of the organization, and Murayama, after retiring as Prime Minister, became the second acting president. He has been developing projects related to the honor and dignity of women in general. Murayama, the chairman of the board, announced that the group will disband in March 2007, when it is scheduled to develop support projects in the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, and the Republic of China, and conclude its Indonesia operations.[4]

Disasters and controversies

Great Hanshin Earthquake

Hanshin Expressway after the Great Hanshin earthquake

On 17 January 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred, with the Japanese government being heavily criticized for its delayed response to the Hyōgo Prefecture.[22]

When asked about the reason for the delay in dispatching the Japan Self-Defense Forces to the site of the earthquake, Murayama, who had been relatively popular as a Prime Minister, received strong criticism from the Japanese opposition and his cabinet approval ratings took a downturn.[3] Eventually, as the full extent of the delayed response became clear, the inadequacies of the Japanese government's crisis management system at the time, including the legal system, were exposed.[4]

The earthquake occurred at around 5:46 a.m., but there was no crisis management employee at the Prime Minister's Office at the time. Furthermore, the National Land Agency [ja], which had jurisdiction over disaster countermeasures, did not have a person on duty. The low loyalty of the Cabinet Secretariat and bureaucrats to the coalition cabinet was pointed out as a problem. After the earthquake, Atsuyuki Sasa [ja], instructed by Masaharu Gotōda, gave a lecture on crisis management to the cabinet. Sasa wrote that Murayama was the only one of the cabinet members who paid attention the entire time, and Sasa reprimanded the cabinet for its distracted behavior. Sasa also wrote about an anecdote where Murayama attempted to hold a press conference immediately after the earthquake, but was halted by Cabinet Secretariat bureaucrats.[23]

Murayama himself said "I think the initial response could have been done more quickly if we had the current crisis management system in place. I cannot bear the shame that so many people died. Every year on the morning of the 7th, I hold a silent prayer at my home."[24] He also said that "There was no crisis management response function at all. There is no excuse for the delay in launching the initial response. Yes, I am truly sorry." He stated further that there was no argument or excuse for the failure in response.[25][26]

At the time, Nobuo Ishihara [ja], who held a role in the Prime Minister's Office as the longest serving Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, said "In this unprecedented and unprecedented disaster, and with an underdeveloped legal system, who else but Murayama could become the Prime Minister? Even so, it was impossible to respond quickly."[27] On the other hand, he also said that "If you look far enough, the cause (of the lack of a system in which the Cabinet could take immediate action) was the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party continued to oppose strengthening the Cabinet's authority." Ironically, when a Prime Minister finally originated from the Socialist Party, a situation occurred where they had to manage the crisis. This was a very difficult situation. It's a story."[28]

Coalition weakness

The coalition formed by Murayama was intensely controversial.[4] A movement began inside the party urging supporters of the Hata Cabinet, including former Chairman Sadao Yamahana. At a meeting on 16 January, Banri Kaieda and others from the splinter Democratic New Party Club joined the promoters to form a new party.[29] He was scheduled to submit a notification of withdrawal from the group on 17 January. It was thought that the event would be canceled due to the earthquake that occurred that early morning, but Yamahana and others submitted a notice of withdrawal from the group in the morning of the same day.[30] The following day, 18 January, the formation of a new party was postponed, and Yamaka left the Socialist Party on 10 May.[31]

Tokyo subway sarin attack

Emergency personnel respond to the Tokyo subway sarin attack

On 20 March 1995, the Tokyo subway sarin attack occurred, the deadliest terrorist attack in Japan as defined by modern standards.[32] Murayama coordinated the response to the attack.[4] After the attack, Murayama held an emergency cabinet meeting and directed the Minister of Transportation to led the investigation and response.[33] His government created a 300-member task force which were tasked to interrogate witnesses and searched for evidence as Murayama appealed for public cooperation.[33] After the attack, he ordered all airports, railroads and ports to be on alert against any further attacks.[33] In response, Murayama made a public plea asking for individuals to come forward with evidence or knowledge of the attack.[33]

All Nippon Airways Flight hijacking

JA8146, the aircraft involved in
All Nippon Airways Flight 857 Hijacking incident on June 21, 1995

On 21 June 1995, the All Nippon Airways Flight 857 from Haneda to Hakodate was hijacked. The culprit demanded that the government release Aum Shinrikyo cult leader Shoko Asahara, who had been arrested and detained the month before.[34]

Murayama consulted with Chair of the National Public Safety Commission Hiromu Nonaka and Minister of Transport Shizuka Kamei. He ordered F-15 fighters to dispatch from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Chitose Base to escort the hijacked aircraft to Hakodate.[35] The following day, Murayama ordered officials to storm aircraft in which Hokkaido and Tokyo police units that had previously been monitoring the aircraft from outside breached the aircraft. The hijacker was arrested, with only him and one passenger injured.[36]

Diplomacy

United States

When the Murayama Cabinet was formed, then-President of the United States Bill Clinton was wary of a Prime Minister from the Socialist Party.[37] During the 20th G7 summit in 1994, after Murayama spoke about his upbringing in a poor fishing village and the process that led him to aspire to become a politician, Clinton appeared to warm up more to Murayama.[38][39]

On 20 July 1994, in his policy speech at the 130th session of the Diet, he declared that the Self-Defense Forces were constitutional and that the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty would be maintained, changing the policies of the Japan Socialist Party up until then and establishing the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty as fundamental policy. At this time, the manuscript for the speech read, Maintain the Japan-US security arrangement, but in the policy statement, Murayama read it as "We will firmly maintain the Japan-US security arrangement."[40][41][42]

In 1995, Murayama would later be invited to the White House, where he and President Clinton gave a joint press conference.[43] However, Japanese-United States relations were considered to be restrained as one of the factors for Murayama's resignation in 1996 was the failing relationship between the two nations.[44]

Domestic policy

Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama with Director-General of the Defense Agency Tokuichirō Tamazawa while viewing the Parade of Self-Defense Force at Camp Asaka on October 30, 1994

Nobuo Ishihara, who served as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, said of the Murayama Cabinet, "It dealt with most of the long-pending issues in national politics. It did a great job. Reform, revision of the Self-Defense Forces Act to rescue Japanese nationals, enactment of Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Act, and enactment of Administrative Reform Act."[28]

Enactment of recycling law

Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama with Japan Deputy Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Director-General of the Defense Agency Seishirō Etō on November 28, 1995

Under Murayama, the Act on Promotion of Separate Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packaging [ja] was passed, mandating separate collection of recyclable goods and trash.[45]

Narita Airport struggle

See also: Sanrizuka Struggle

By the time the Murayama Cabinet took office, the Sanrizuka Struggle had transitioned from violent to more non-violent resistance, although debate was still fierce on both sides. In response to the conclusions of the "Narita Airport Problem Symposium" held 15 times from November 1991 and the "Narita Airport Problem Round Table Conference" held 12 times from September 1993, Murayama decided on this issue in 1995. He apologized fully to the local community for the circumstances surrounding the airport issue. As a result, some landowners appeared willing to acquire land for the second phase of construction. Later, in 1996, a plan was developed to construct a temporary runway avoiding unpurchased land. In addition to the apology from Murayama and other government officials, the hard-line stance of residents opposed to Narita International Airport gradually softened due to repeated efforts by neutral committee members.[46][47][48]

Selective surname system

Murayama was a strong supporter of the introduction of the selective surname system for married couples, allowing them to keep their surnames from before marriage.[49]

Strengthening the Prime Minister's Office

Upon entering the Prime Minister's Office, Murayama felt a sense of crisis because, with the exception of the Prime Minister, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, and the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, all staff at the Prime Minister's Office were career bureaucrats. "The Prime Minister's Office is not just an office that conducts administration, but also an office that makes political decisions."[50] The post of "Assistant to the Prime Minister" was created for this reason. The Prime Minister's assistants were chosen from among the Diet members belonging to the three ruling parties, with Hidenao Nakagawa, Masaru Hayakawa, Jun Nishikori, and Saburo Toida all being appointed to the office. The appointed assistant to the Prime Minister was in charge of providing opinions on the Prime Minister's speeches and answers, as well as gathering information on political issues. The post of "Aide to the Prime Minister" was considered a personal advisor to the Prime Minister, but the Cabinet Act was later amended and the post of "Aide to the Prime Minister" was legislated to be more political in nature.[50]

Resignation

As part of his party's coalition deal which included a rotational prime minister, Murayama announced his intent to resign as prime minister on 5 January 1996.[44][4] The move allowed the Liberal Democratic Party leader Ryutaro Hashimoto to become Murayama's successor.[44] Eventually, Murayama would go on to retire from politics overall in 2000.[4]

Later life and death

Murayama with Yoshihiko Okabe in 2015

In 2000, Murayama retired from politics.[51] He and Mutsuko Miki traveled to North Korea in 2000 to promote better bilateral relations between the two countries.[52]

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.[53] After providing compensation and working on various projects, the fund was dissolved on 31 March 2007.[54]

Murayama turned 100 on 3 March 2024.[55] He died on 17 October 2025 at a hospital in Oita, at the age of 101.[56][4] His wife of 71 years, Yoshie, died in 2024.[57] He was survived by two children, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.[4][56]

Legacy

After his death, The New York Times noted that his televised address on the 50 year anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II helped "set a marker for his country’s 'deep remorse' over wartime atrocities'.[4] The New York Times also hailed Murayama for having "gone further than any previous Japanese leader in expressing regrets for the killing, torture and rape of millions of civilians and other atrocities in countries Japan occupied during the war".[4] Murayama's national apology was said to be "the standard for subsequent [Japanese] leaders".[51] His successors would go on to phrases such as "deep remorse" and "heartfelt apology", words that Murayama used, when marking the 60th and 70th World War II anniversaries.[58]

Chinese spokesperson for the Foreign Minister Lin Jian called Murayama "a politician with a strong sense of justice" and acknowledged how his government held a positive impact between Japan-China relations.[59] President of South Korea Lee Jae Myung credited Murayama for making "exceptional efforts toward reconciliation and co-prosperity with neighboring countries" during his time as prime minister.[60]

Reacting to his death, Social Democratic Party Chairwoman Mizuho Fukushima called Murayama the "father of Japanese politics".[58]

Through his efforts in establishing the Asian Women's Fund, the organization was credited for bringing comfort women into the national and global stage, something that Murayama advocated for.[4] In part for his work with the Asian Women's Fund, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights issued statements in support of the women.[4] Years later, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invited one of the comfort women survivors to the United Nations headquarters in New York to address their experiences.[4]

Honours

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tomiichi Murayama.

References

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Tomiichi Murayama, Japanese Leader Who Gave Landmark War Apology, Dies at 101

His televised address as prime minister, delivered 50 years to the day after Japan announced its surrender, set a marker for his country’s “deep remorse” over wartime atrocities.

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An older man in a suit and tie turns to his right.
Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995, the year he delivered his landmark apology for atrocities inflicted by Japanese troops in World War II. “Our task,” he said, “is to convey to younger generations the horrors of war so that we never repeat the errors in our history.”Credit...Reuters

By Joseph B. Treaster and Hisako Ueno

Tomiichi Murayama, a backbench legislator in Japan who was unexpectedly elevated to prime minister in 1994 at 70 and the next year delivered the country’s most forthright and enduring apology for atrocities inflicted by Japanese troops in World War II, died on Friday in Oita, in Kyushu province. He was 101.

His death, in a hospital, was announced by the Social Democratic Party of Oita.

Mr. Murayama delivered his historic apology on national television on the morning of Aug. 15, 1995, 50 years to the day after Japan announced it would surrender unconditionally to the United States. The words of contrition were brief and cautiously worded, completed in less than five minutes.

“I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history,” he said, “and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.

“Our task,” he continued, “is to convey to younger generations the horrors of war so that we never repeat the errors in our history.”

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His proclamation was the defining achievement of Mr. Murayama’s 18 months in office. He had gone further than any previous Japanese leader in expressing regrets for the killing, torture and rape of millions of civilians and other atrocities in countries Japan occupied during the war.

Mr. Murayama had been sharply constrained by conservatives in his governing coalition, and his apology was not strong enough to ease resentment in China and South Korea, whose citizens had suffered under Japanese occupation. It also rankled Japanese nationalists.

Japan’s war crimes across Asia often overshadowed the suffering and destruction endured by Japan’s civilian population during the war. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians had been killed in the firebombing of their cities and in the first — and still only — use of atomic bombs. Two million Japanese soldiers died during the war.

By the time of Mr. Murayama’s campaign, Japan had replaced ruined cities with glittering metropolises and become a global economic power. Its pride had grown, and there was little enthusiasm among its leaders to look back, even less for a public showing of regret.

Still, Mr. Murayama set a marker. For years, prime ministers repeated the Murayama phrases “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apologies” in their addresses commemorating the end of the war.

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Mr. Murayama’s rise to prime minister on June 30, 1994, came as a surprise. He was 70 years old. He had served quietly in the House of Representatives for more than 20 years and was not known nationally. He had never held a cabinet position, nor did he have experience negotiating on behalf of the government with countries outside Japan.

He was tall, thin, easygoing and grandfatherly, with wild, shaggy eyebrows. “He wasn’t charismatic,” Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, said in an interview. “He wasn’t particularly inspiring. He didn’t have name recognition. He was a down-to-earth, ordinary sort of guy, not a typical politician.”

Mr. Murayama became prime minister as the solution to a political crisis.

His pacifist Japan Socialist Party had for decades been the weak rival of the dominant nationalistic and conservative Liberal Democratic Party. In June 1994, during a recession and political turmoil, both parties were struggling for survival. In desperation, the conservatives invited the socialists to join them and a smaller third party to form a governing coalition.

The socialists recoiled, but the conservatives brought them into the coalition with an irresistible offer: The socialists could have the post of prime minister. About a year earlier, in another round of horse trading, Mr. Murayama had agreed to serve as chairman of the Socialist Party. Now, as chairman, he was catapulted into Japan’s highest political office.

The coalition was an awkward, lopsided deal that left Mr. Murayama at the mercy of the Liberal Democrats. They greatly outnumbered the socialists and took most of the seats in the cabinet, crucial positions that a prime minister would normally fill with allies.

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Mr. Murayama backed away from most of the socialists’ goals, but his powerful partners permitted him to move toward his party’s longtime goal of reconciliation.

He had to negotiate every step. He got a watered-down version of his apology endorsed by the House of Representatives only by threatening to resign. Before he went on television, the coalition cabinet halfheartedly approved his speech. Mr. Murayama had wanted a more extravagant, ceremonial staging, but his coalition partners blocked him.

Shortly after Mr. Murayama’s landmark address, half of the members of the coalition cabinet humiliated him with a showy offering of prayers at the Yasukuni Shrine, a bastion of nationalism in Tokyo that venerates Japan’s war criminals and the battlefield sacrifices of its other military war dead.

“It was a symbolic repudiation of the tenor and purpose of the speech,” said John W. Dower, who taught Japanese history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1999 book, “Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II.”

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The apology, enshrined by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Murayama Statement, was the culmination of a yearlong drive for conciliation. Mr. Murayama talked about it in his first policy address.

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He speaks into a microphone and gestures with both hands as another man looks on.
Mr. Murayama persuaded the Japanese government to set up the Asian Women’s Fund to aid the surviving “comfort women” who were forced to work in government-run brothels during World War II.Credit...Shizuo Kambayashi/Associated Press

One of his main points in reconciliation was the issue of comfort women — the term was a euphemism Japan adopted to describe the estimated 200,000 women, many of them Korean, who had been forced to work in government-run brothels serving Japanese soldiers, often near the front lines.

Survivors of the ordeal told stories of cruelty and abuse. The women were living evidence of Japan’s atrocities and helped Japan and the world understand why an apology was needed.

Mr. Murayama persuaded the government to set up, in 1995, an organization called the Asian Women’s Fund. A joint governmental and charitable enterprise, it offered medical care and some compensation for the women for more than a decade.

The organization helped draw widespread attention to the suffering, but only a few hundred of the surviving 1,000 or so women benefited. Some were too embarrassed to come forward, historians said, and others felt insulted that instead of recognizing a debt, the government had shifted responsibility for compensation to a charity.

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Mr. Murayama became president of the fund when he retired from Parliament in 2000 and stayed on until it closed in 2007. In 2006, both the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the U.S. Congress issued statements in support of the women. A decade later, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon brought one of the survivors to U.N. headquarters in New York to highlight their plight.

Tomiichi Murayama, the seventh of 11 children, was born on March 3, 1924, in the fishing and mining city of Oita, in the far south of Japan. He was in junior high school when his father, a fisherman, died. His mother worked at menial jobs to keep the family going.

He was accepted into the prestigious Meiji University in Tokyo, but his studies were interrupted by the war. He was sent to work in a shipyard and later drafted into the Japanese Army; was in officer candidate school when the war ended. He returned to Meiji and graduated in 1946, a year after the surrender.

Mr. Murayama joined the Japan Socialist Party and worked for nine years as an organizer in a fishermen’s union in Oita before being elected to the Oita City Council. He moved up to the Oita prefecture government and, in 1972, was elected to the House of Representatives.

Mr. Murayama is survived by two daughters, Mari Murayama and Yuri Nakahara; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Yoshie, died last year.

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Mr. Murayama lived in Oita after retiring from Parliament, but he often went back to Tokyo and traveled to other countries, giving interviews and making speeches encouraging respect for Japan’s neighbors and warning against the savagery of war.

Mr. Murayama was a skilled calligrapher. During the Covid pandemic, he donated three of his works to the municipal archive in Shanghai, saying that he hoped his art would cheer up the people in China who had found themselves at the center of the outbreak.

A few years earlier, Mr. Murayama had created another piece of calligraphy for China. “Japan-Chinese friendship,” it read. “Credibility comes from being true to one’s words.”

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