Friday, October 17, 2025 - Tomiichi Murayama, Japan’s former prime minister best remembered for issuing a landmark apology over the country’s wartime aggression, has died at the age of 101, officials confirmed on Friday, October 17.
Murayama, who led Japan from 1994 to 1996, was renowned for
his 1995 statement marking the 50th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World
War II, in which he expressed “deep remorse” and extended a “heartfelt apology”
for the suffering caused by Japan’s military actions across Asia.
The apology, delivered on August 15, 1995, became the
foundation for Japan’s subsequent expressions of regret over its wartime past.
“Tomiichi Murayama, the father of Japanese politics, passed
away today at 11:28 a.m. at a hospital in Oita City at the age of 101,” said
Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the successor
to Murayama’s now-defunct Socialist Party, in a post on X.
Hiroyuki Takano, secretary general of the SDP in Oita,
Murayama’s hometown, told AFP that the former premier had died of old age.
In his 1995 statement, Murayama acknowledged that “Japan,
through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and
suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian
nations.”
He continued: “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.”
The phrases “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology” have
since been echoed by successive Japanese prime ministers during major wartime
anniversaries, including the 60th and 70th commemorations.
Murayama, recognizable by his distinctive bushy eyebrows,
came to power as prime minister in a coalition government that included the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) — Japan’s dominant postwar political force.
His tenure coincided with a turbulent period in Japan’s
history, including the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s
subway, which killed more than a dozen people and injured thousands.
Born in 1924, Murayama was conscripted into the Japanese
Imperial Army in 1944 while studying at university. In a 2015 interview with
public broadcaster NHK, he described the experience as harrowing, calling the
military a “dreadful thing” where “rebellion or argument was absolutely
forbidden.”
Recalling the final days of the war, Murayama said, “Food
was already scarce, and very few weapons remained. We had weapons made of
bamboo. I wondered if we could wage war in this condition.”
Murayama’s apology remains one of Japan’s most significant
gestures of wartime contrition, a legacy that continues to shape the
country’s diplomatic relations in Asia.
0 Comments