Japanese Prime MinisterSteps Down

TOKYO: In a surprise press conference Friday, Tomiichi Murayama announced his resignation as Japan's Prime Minister. Murayama, Japan's third Prime Minister in as many years, had served since June 1994, presiding over a troubled year and a half of Japan's history that saw the devastating earthquake in Kobe, the nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways, and a major bank failure and ensuing financial scandal that rocked the country. "That he lasted 18 months was remarkable," says TIME's Frank Gibney. "After Trade Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was elected president of the powerful Liberal Democratic Party and Ichiro Ozawa named chief of the leading opposition Shinshinto party, top LDP officials apparently convinced their coalition counterparts that the only way to avoid a debacle in the April, 1996 elections would be for Murayama to step down now, giving the three ruling political parties time to get their houses in order before the budget announcement." Hashimoto is considered the favorite to take over as Prime Minister, although Murayama declined to name him as successor.