Tomiichi Murayama, Former Prime Minister of Japan, dies at 101 years old

[Monty]

Japan ex-PM Murayama, famous for WWII apology, dies aged 101

TOKYO — Japan’s former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, best known for making a statement apologising over World War II, died Friday aged 101, officials said.

Murayama, in office from 1994 to 1996, issued the 1995 statement on the 50th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in which he expressed “deep remorse” over the country’s atrocities in Asia.

“Tomiichi Murayama, the father of Japanese politics, passed away today at 11:28 am at a hospital in Oita City at the age of 101,” Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, seen as the successor to Murayama’s now-defunct Socialist Party, said on X.

Here is the full text in English of the famous apology.

That site is from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The speech is dated 15 August 1995.