Hiromu Murakami, former chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, died of pneumonia at an Osaka hospital Thursday, the party said Friday. He was 85.
A native of Hiroshima Prefecture, Murakami graduated from a communications training school in 1942 and became the first chairman of the labor union at the Osaka central cable station office in 1946.
He joined the JCP in 1947. He successfully ran for a seat in the House of Representatives from the then Osaka No. 3 constituency in 1972 and served a total of four terms in the Lower House.
Murakami succeeded Tetsuzo Fuwa as party chairman at a party convention in November 1987 but resigned in June 1989 due to poor health. He retired in 1990. MOTOO SHIINA Motoo Shiina, a former lawmaker and leading authority on Japan-U.S. relations, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on March 16, his family said Friday. He was 76.
A son of former House of Representatives member Etsusaburo Shiina and a physicist by training, he was first elected to the House of Representatives as a candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the 1979 general election.
He was re-elected three times before switching to the House of Councilors in 1992. He left the LDP in 1993 and later formed an intraparliamentary group of independents. He retired in 2004.
Throughout his political career, Shiina worked hard to improve relations between Japan and the United States. In 2003, he became the first Japanese to receive the U.S. Secretary of State's Award for Distinguished Service.