Hiromu Murakami (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 村上弘, ''Murakami Hiromu''; 24 September 1921 – 22 March 2007) was a Japanese politician who served as the third chairman of the

Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...

from 1987 until 1989.

Biography

He was born in

Innoshima, Hiroshima is an island and former city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The island is located within the Geiyo Islands of the Seto Inland Sea. The city was founded on May 1, 1953. , the city had an estimated population of 27,465 and a population density ...

(today

Onomichi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 129,314 in 64055 households and a population density of 450 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Onomichi is loca ...

), as the fifth of ten children. A graduate of the

Ministry of Communications A Communications Ministry or Department of Communications is a ministry or other government agency charged with communication. Communications responsibilities include regulating telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and print media. The ...

, he was stationed as a soldier in Hiroshima during the war. In 1946, Murakami became the first chairman at an

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

-based labor union office, and in the following year, he joined the

. In 1948, he was suspected of being the ringleader behind the

Hanshin Education Incident The occurred in April 1948, when Japanese authorities, acting under the directions of the Government of the United States and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japanese Ministry of Education, closed down private K ...

, and as a result he spent the next year and eight months in an

prison for violating occupation edicts. Murakami eventually became the chairman of the JCP's Osaka chapter, and in 1967 he attempted to run in Osaka's gubernatorial elections, coming in at third place with 260,661 votes, or only 11.31% of the total votes. However, in 1972 he was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the first time as a successor to Yokota Jintarō in Osaka's 3rd district. In addition, he also became a committee member of the National Association for Peace, Democracy, and Innovation in Japan, which formed in 1981. He served in a number of formal capacities, such as being the JCP's legislative strategy chairman, the supervisor of its policy committee, and vice president of its board of directors. He would also write a few books on political topics throughout his career. When then-Chairman

Tetsuzo Fuwa is the pen name of , a member''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (1979) and the former chairman of the Japanese Communist Party. He is a graduate of Tokyo University. He joined the Communist Party in 1947, and was elected to the House of Represe ...

was hospitalised for heart disease in March 1987, Murakami became acting chairman, and then was formally elected as the chairman by the JCP's central committee in November. JCP's earlier foreign policy was revised around this time through its recognition of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and as a result a reporter for the JCP's official

Red Flag Red flag may refer to: Signs and warnings * Red flag (idiom), a literal or metaphorical warning * Red flag (American slavery), signal of an upcoming slave sale * Red flag warning, issued by the National Weather Service in the United States * ...

newspaper was dispatched to the country, among other gestures. However, Murakami announced that he had developed

ophthalmoparesis Ophthalmoparesis refers to weakness (-paresis) or paralysis (-plegia) of one or more extraocular muscles which are responsible for eye movements. It is a physical finding in certain neurologic, ophthalmologic, and endocrine disease. Internal ...

as a result of

cerebrovascular disease Cerebrovascular disease includes a variety of medical conditions that affect the blood vessels of the brain and the cerebral circulation. Arteries supplying oxygen and nutrients to the brain are often damaged or deformed in these disorders. Th ...

at a speech in

Shiga is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to t ...

in February 1989, and later resigned as chairman on 29 May.

Kenji Miyamoto Kenji Miyamoto may refer to: * Kenji Miyamoto (politician) (1908–2007), Japanese politician * Kenji Miyamoto (figure skater) is a Japanese figure skating choreographer, coach, and former competitive ice dancer. He skated with Rie Arikawa, w ...

appointed Secretary General Mitsuhiro Kaneko to serve as acting chairman in the meantime, but Vice-chairman Tetsuzo Fuwa was reappointed as chairman once again at the 5th Central Committee General Assembly on 8 June. After resigning, Murakami withdrew from all of his official roles at the JCP as well as from the Diet. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on 22 March 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murakami, Hiromu 2007 deaths 1921 births Japanese trade unionists Japanese Communist Party politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) People from Onomichi, Hiroshima Politicians from Hiroshima Prefecture Politicians from Osaka Prefecture Activists from Hiroshima Prefecture