All entries / Postwar statements

15 August 1995: Tomiichi Murayama’s statement on the war’s fiftieth anniversary

On 15 August 1995, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama expressed remorse and apology for the harm caused by Japan’s colonial rule and aggression. This entry records the statement and a later official account.

Speaker: Tomiichi Murayama (Prime Minister of Japan at the time) · Document date: 1995-08-15

Statement

The Japanese text preserved by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is dated 15 August 1995. Its fifth paragraph acknowledges the damage and suffering caused by colonial rule and aggression, particularly to people in Asian countries, and expresses remorse and apology. This is a translation of the project’s Chinese paraphrase, not an official translation of the statement. Source 1

Later official account

Note 1 of a briefing transcript published by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2012 independently identifies the statement’s date, speaker, remorse and apology. It can be compared with the Japanese text for the statement’s existence and core content, but it is not a contemporary response from 1995. Source 2

Scope and limitations

This entry records the official text and the later account. Original Chinese and South Korean official responses from 1995 have not been verified. Language versions of Japan’s statement count as one source chain. The 2012 Chinese account was produced by another government, but is not a second eyewitness record from 1995.

The statement’s existence alone does not establish acceptance by victims, completion of compensation or continuity in later policy. This entry draws no conclusions on those questions and does not portray the statement as resolving all historical issues.