Murayama Tomiichi

Murayama Tomiichi (2015)

Murayama Tomiichi ( Japanese 村 山 富 市 ; born March 3, 1924 in Ōita , Ōita prefecture ) is a former Japanese politician and was the 52nd Prime Minister of Japan from June 30, 1994 to January 11, 1996 . He was only the second socialist / social democrat in Japanese history to hold this post and, after Katayama Tetsu, the first in almost 50 years. During his almost eighteen-month tenure, he headed the 81st Japanese cabinet , the first grand coalition between Liberal Democrats and Socialists, and one of only a few post-war cabinets in which the largest party in parliament did not provide the prime minister.

Life

Career

He was born in Ōita Prefecture, the son of a simple fisherman. Murayama graduated from Meiji University . He later joined the Socialist Party of Japan (SPJ, from 1996: Social Democratic Party ).

He began his political career in 1955 as a member of the Ōita city ​​council . From 1963 to 1972 he was then a member of the prefectural parliament of Ōita . In 1972 he was elected to the Japanese House of Commons .

Murayama was seen as a tough negotiator with a calm personality. He was particularly valued for his ability to compromise. In 1991 he was appointed head of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee ( kokkai taisaku iinchō ) of the Socialist Party of Japan. In August 1993 the Socialist Party participated in the Hosokawa cabinet . Murayama became party leader in September 1993 after Yamahana Sadao resigned after losing the 1993 general election . In April 1994 the SPJ left the coalition again during the formation of the subsequent Hata cabinet , when three coalition parties formed joint parliamentary groups in both chambers (and thus at least surpassed the SPJ parliamentary group in the lower house as the strongest government group). The first government without LDP participation since 1955 was without a majority in both chambers after just a few months. The threat of a vote of no confidence was enough to induce the Hata cabinet to resign a little later. In a historical approximation, the LDP voted in the election of a successor for Murayama and the traditional arch-rivals LDP and SPJ (together with the small New Party Sakigake ) formed a joint government.

prime minister

Murayama Tomiichi (second from left) during the G7 summit in Halifax 1995

On June 30, 1994 , he became Prime Minister of a coalition made up of the SPJ, LDP and the New Sakigake Party. Since the cabinet was composed of very different political camps, he was considered a weak prime minister with little power.

He has been heavily criticized for the slow response to the Kobe earthquake on January 17, 1995. The attack on the Tokyo subway also fell during his reign .

On the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War , he apologized in the so-called Murayama Declaration for the war crimes committed by Japan. To this day, it represents the official position of the Japanese government on the war past.

In the upper house election in 1995 , his party suffered heavy seat losses, whereupon he offered to resign. His supporters were able to change his mind for the time being, but a few months later he left his post to Ryūtarō Hashimoto , chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party .

In 2000 he announced his retirement from active politics and did not run for another term in the general election in June of that year . Since 2014 he has been honorary chairman of the Social Democratic Party , the successor party to the SPJ.

See also

• Murayama's cabinet
• Murayama Cabinet (reshuffle)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerald L. Curtis: The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change. Columbia University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0231108435 , chap. 5: The LDP's Return to Power.
2. ↑ sdp.or.jp - 社会 民主党全国連 合 役 員 一 覧 (Japanese), accessed October 10, 2018

• Murayama Tomiichi in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Murayama is the family name, Tomiichi the first name.