Tetsuzo Fuwa, a former Lower House lawmaker and a longtime leader of the Japanese Communist Party, died of acute heart failure Tuesday, the party announced the same day. He was 95.
Born as Kenjiro Ueda in 1930 in Tokyo, Fuwa attended the University of Tokyo and joined the Communist Party in 1947. He was elected to the Lower House for the first time in 1969 and served 11 consecutive terms until 2003.
Fuwa became the general secretary of the party at the age of 40 in 1970 before succeeding Kenji Miyamoto as chairman in 1982, a position he held until 1987. He returned to the position from 1989 to 2000, after which he served as the president of the party¡¯s central committee until 2006.
Throughout his tenure as a lawmaker, Fuwa served as a key opposition figure, confronting 18 prime ministers from the Liberal Democratic Party in parliament questioning. Fuwa also played a pivotal role in shaping the JCP¡¯s identity in the post-Miyamato years, steering the party away from its revolutionary image toward that of a pragmatic, moderate party seeking reform through cooperation with other opposition parties.
After stepping down from top leadership, Fuwa remained a member of the standing committee until 2024.
¡°It is a source of profound sorrow to have lost a senior figure who made such an enormous contribution, both theoretically and politically,¡± JCP central committee chairman Kazuo Shii said in a statement Tuesday.
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