Oita: Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama Celebrates 100th Birthday

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:55 JST, March 16, 2024

OITA — Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. who served as leader in the 1990s, celebrated his 100th birthday on March 3.

Murayama, who now lives in Oita City, is at elderly day care service three times a week. He takes walks twice a day and continues to exercise. His favorite hobby is watching sumo wrestling, he said.

“I can’t really feel that I have turned 100. Right now, I’m happy to be able to spend each and every day with my family,” Murayama said in a written statement to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Among successive prime ministers, Murayama’s longevity is close to that of Yasuhiro Nakasone, who died in 2019 at the age of 101. In the statement, Murayama said the secret to his long life is “to live naturally, without overdoing it.”

Murayama, whose long eyebrows became a trademark, became prime minister in 1994 and served until January 1996.