A constitutional monarchy in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Japan comprises an archipelago with four main islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku), the Ryukyus (including Okinawa), and lesser adjacent islands. Area: 377,800 sq km (145,869 sq mi). Pop. (1995 est.): 125,362,000. Cap.: Tokyo. Monetary unit: yen, with (Oct. 12, 1995) a free rate of 100 yen to U.S. $1 (160 yen = £1 sterling). Emperor, Akihito; prime minister in 1995, Tomiichi Murayama.
In 1995 Japanese confidence was shaken by two disasters, one natural and the other of human origin. The Great Hanshin Earthquake (named after the Kobe-Osaka region) claimed about 6,000 lives and caused extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. Later the nation was frightened by a series of gas attacks, mounted by a fringe religious sect, on subway and rail lines.
Early on the morning of January 17, an earthquake centred on Awaji Island, 20 km (12.4 mi) southwest of Kobe, devastated the Hanshin region. Highways and rail lines were severely damaged, at least 100,000 buildings were destroyed, and 900,000 homes were without electricity. Early estimates of damage in Hyogo prefecture ranged from $95 billion to $150 billion (about 13-21% of the national budget for fiscal year 1994). The government’s slow response to the crisis was widely criticized. On January 23 Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama acknowledged "shortcomings" in the government’s emergency management system.
Within six months after the quake, about 40,000 temporary houses had been built for more than 300,000 homeless people. Reconstruction, expected to take up to four years, continued to dominate budget discussions. Some economists, however, noted that construction work might provide a stimulus to the lagging economy.
Two months after the earthquake, Japanese morale suffered another blow. On March 15 three briefcases containing a strange liquid and small fans were discovered in a Tokyo subway station before the devices could be activated. Five days later, at the height of the morning rush hour, fumes were detected at Tsukiji Station in the centre of Tokyo and in 15 stations on the busy Hibiya, Marunouchi, and Chiyoda subway lines. Twelve passengers were killed and 5,500 sickened, many of whom had to be hospitalized. In June 1994 a similar attack had killed 7 and injured 200 in Matsumoto. Investigation centred on a "new religion," whose members denied involvement. The group called itself Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) and was officially recognized in 1989. It was founded by Chizuo Matsumoto, who had assumed the name Shoko Asahara (see BIOGRAPHIES), a legally blind former yoga instructor and pharmacist. Aum Shinrikyo had an estimated 10,000 followers in Japan and branch chapters abroad.
Within days of the Tokyo gas incidents, more than 2,000 police officers raided Aum offices in Tokyo and its laboratory headquarters at Kamikuishiki, Yamanashi prefecture. They seized numerous canisters of toxic chemicals used to manufacture sarin, the nerve gas that had been identified as the substance used in the subway attacks. Lethal chemical devices were also found in Yokohama rail stations and at Shinjuku, the busiest rail and subway transfer point in Tokyo.
On May 16 Asahara and 16 other cult leaders were arrested in nationwide raids. Although Asahara denied that his sect had been involved in the gas attacks, five followers later confessed to participation in the Matsumoto incident and implicated the sect in the prior abduction and killing of a lawyer who had represented families attempting to recover their children from the cult. Ashara’s trial began on October 26, and on December 14, on the basis of an antisubversion law, the government outlawed Aum Shinrikyo.
Public dissatisfaction with established parties became clear on April 9, when local elections were held to choose prefectural governors and assemblies. In assembly elections Murayama’s Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDPJ) suffered the most stinging defeat in its history. Yukio Aoshima, an author tied to no party, became governor of Tokyo by defeating the candidate backed by most of the major parties. Fulfilling a campaign promise, he promptly announced cancellation of the World City Expo Tokyo ’96, even though the city had already spent $250 million on the project. After comedian "Knock" Yokoyama rode a tidal wave of dissent to score an upset in Osaka, he announced that as governor he would generally use his real name, Isamu Yamada. On May 27 the SDPJ approved plans to disband and reorganize as a "democratic-liberal" group, pledged to support a "mature society."
In an election held in July for half (126) the seats in the (upper) House of Councillors, the socialists absorbed additional losses. They won only 16 seats, giving them, with carryovers, a total of 38. The coalition, however, retained a majority because the LDP held 110 seats and New Party Sakigake controlled 3. The opposition Shinshinto increased its total to 56 seats.
On August 8 Murayama reshuffled the Cabinet to reflect the new balance of power within his coalition. The LDP was given 13 portfolios, the SDPJ 5, and Sakigake 2. No woman was appointed to the Cabinet. A newspaper poll in September indicated that the Cabinet’s public approval rating had fallen to a record low of 22%. On September 25 Ryutaro Hashimoto, well known to U.S. trade negotiators, was formally elected president of the LDP. Many expected him to become Japan’s next prime minister. At year’s end Shinshinto chose Ichiro Ozawa as party leader, a move that seemed likely to be welcomed by Japanese businessmen as well as Japan’s foreign partners.
Throughout 1995 the country’s leaders agonized over how to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific. They seemed not to know how to respond when victim nations revived memories of the sufferings they endured as a result of Japanese aggression. On April 7 the Cabinet announced the establishment of a private-sector Asian Peace and Friendship Fund for Women. With a government subsidy of $23.5 million, it was designed to express "remorse" to non-Japanese "comfort women," who had been forced to serve as prostitutes for Japan’s military during the war.
In May Sakigake threatened to withdraw from the coalition if the LDP continued to oppose a clear apology and a no-war resolution in the Diet. Former prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone declared that such a statement would be "inappropriate." On June 9 the lower house, with 70 members absent, passed a resolution expressing "deep remorse" for "acts of aggression," particularly in Asia, and pledging adherence to Japan’s no-war constitution. The upper house took no action. On August 15 Murayama became the first prime minister to use the word owabi (unambiguously, "apology") in a statement made before, and separated from, Emperor Akihito’s presiding over the annual memorial to the war dead.