Tomiichi Murayama, who has died aged 101, served as prime minister of Japan for just over 18 months, from 1994 until 1996, but the brevity of his term belied its significance. He was his country’s first socialist premier in nearly 50 years, albeit one who governed in coalition with Japan’s traditional ruling party, the centre-right Liberal Democratic party (LDP). And his 1995 statement, “On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war’s end”, marked a historic apology to Japan’s Asian neighbours for the country’s imperialism and atrocities committed during the second world war.
Murayama’s premiership came about unexpectedly. The socialist Tetsu Katayama had briefly served as prime minister in 1947-48, but a centre-right government was the rule in postwar Japan. Since 1955, when a stable two-party system had emerged, the Japan Socialist party had been the main opposition force, but was never able to secure enough votes to challenge the dominance of the LDP, which retained power for nearly four decades.
