Japan's former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, best known for making a statement apologising over World War II, died on Friday aged 101, officials said.

Murayama issued the 1995 proclamation on the 50th anniversary of Japan's surrender, expressing "deep remorse" over the country's atrocities in Asia.

The statement became a benchmark for Tokyo's subsequent apologies over World War II.

"Tomiichi Murayama, the father of Japanese politics, passed away today at 11.28am at a hospital in Oita City at the age of 101," Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, seen as the successor to Murayama's now-defunct Socialist Party, said on X.

Hiroyuki Takano, the secretary general of the Social Democratic Party in Oita, Murayama's hometown, told AFP he had been informed that the former premier died of old age.

Born on March 3, 1924, in Oita Prefecture, Murayama became chairman of the Japan Socialist Party in 1993 and served as prime minister from June 1994 through January 1996.

On August 15, 1995, Murayama issued a cabinet-endorsed statement in his name to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, which declared that "Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war... and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations."

The Murayama statement also expressed "deep remorse" and offered a "heartfelt apology", using unprecedented language to apologise for Japan's wartime actions.

Murayama retired from politics in 2000 and continued to devote himself to the cause of peace.

On August 15, 2020, the 25th anniversary of his statement, he stressed the importance of acknowledging history, expressed apology and resolve to refrain from aggression and colonial rule again, and expected the Murayama statement to continue to contribute to reconciliation, peace and development in Japan, Asia and the world in the future.

Murayama was in office during a turbulent period, which saw a huge 1995 earthquake in western Japan and a sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway that killed more than a dozen people and injured more than 5,800.

He was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army in 1944 while studying at university.

In a 2015 interview with public broadcaster NHK, he called the military a "dreadful thing", describing how "rebellion or argument was absolutely forbidden".

He also recalled his difficult memories of the run-up to the end of the war, when "food was already scarce, and very few weapons remained".

"We had weapons made of bamboo. I wondered if we could wage war in this condition," he said at the time. (AFP/Xinhua)