Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama Passes Away at 101

Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama has passed away at the age of 101 in a hospital in Oita, southern Japan, according to a statement from the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Mizuho Fukushima.

Murayama served as Prime Minister from 1994 to 1996 and led a rare coalition that brought together the Japanese Socialist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party.

Murayama is known for his historic speech in 1995, in which he offered a clear apology to the victims of colonialism and Japanese aggression during World War II, expressing “deep remorse and sincere apology,” phrases that were later adopted by Japanese Prime Ministers on occasions commemorating the war.