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
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	(1924-03-03) 3 March 1924 (age 100) Ōita, Empire of Japan
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Other political affiliations	Japan Socialist Party (Until 1996)
Spouse	Yoshie Murayama ​ (m. 1953)​ [1]
Alma mater	Meiji University
Signature
Military career
Allegiance	Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1944–1945
Rank	Officer candidate
Battles/wars	World War II

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.