(February 25, 1922 – July 2, 2015) was the chairman of the former

Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...

, now known as the

Social Democratic Party of Japan The is a political party in Japan that was established in 1996. Since its reformation and name change in 1996, it has advocated pacifism and defined itself as a social-democratic party. It was previously known as the . The party was refounded ...

. He was elected to the position in 1991. Tanabe was from the right wing of the party and was a reformer. He served in the Japanese

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

11 times. Tanabe was a supporter of giving Japanese aide to deal with the lack of food in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. He was also supportive of apologizing for Japan's behaviour during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and of giving reparations to those in Asian countries. He died in 2015.

References

2015 deaths Social Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1922 births {{Japan-politician-1920s-stub