Tomiichi Murayama

Prime Minister of Japan

3 March 1924 Ōita, Ōita Prefecture, Empire of Japan

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30 June 1994 – 11 January 1996

81st Prime Minister of Japan 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 Japanese 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 Imperial Japanese atrocities committed during World War II. Of the eleven living former prime ministers of Japan, he is currently the oldest living prime minister, following the death of Yasuhiro Nakasone on 29 November 2019.