However, Mr Kono stood down in favour of Mr Murayama, the leader then of the Social Democrats, to ensure the coalition's stability.

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On May 10, spokesman Suga sought to douse the brushfires by insisting that Abe has never denied Japan's history of aggression and unequivocally supports the Murayama Statement.

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The premier's remarks were a line-by-line restatement of a landmark 1995 apology issued by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, marking the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

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Lifetime employment once made sense, says Mr Murayama, because the company's strength lay in production engineering, and the ability to innovate through small engineering improvements requires a good deal of experience.

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Subsequently Abe quibbled in the Japanese parliament remarks about how to define "aggression, " and in doing so subverted the 1995 Murayama Statement that expresses regret for Japan's colonial rule and aggression.

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In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the war's end, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama also expressed Tokyo's deep remorse and heartfelt apology for the damage and suffering it inflicted on its Asian neighbors.

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Mr. Abe last read off the Murayama statement in a February committee meeting in the Diet, in response to opposition lawmakers questioning whether he intends to reassess the government's apology for its wartime aggression.

WSJ: Premier Repeats Japan's Admission Of War Aggression

"I meant to work here until my retirement, " says Masahiro Yoshino, 48, riding a bus from the Nissan plant that makes hatchbacks in the Tokyo suburb of Murayama, one of the factories Nissan plans to shutter.

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And history is the gift that keeps on giving as the LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi, appearing on television on May 12, told viewers that in fact Abe doesn't accept the verdict of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, again denied by Suga, while she also slammed the Murayama Statement.

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