[Park Sang-jun Column] What is the Supreme Court chief justice’s calling in this era?

Tomiichi Murayama, Japan’s 81st prime minister, was not expected to become the country’s leader because of the strength of his party. He entered the House of Representatives at 48 and became chairman of the Japan Socialist Party at 69, in 1993. The following year, when a coalition government led by the Liberal Democratic Party and the Socialist Party took office, Murayama became prime minister.

A year later, he faced the 50th anniversary of Japan’s defeat as prime minister. Murayama believed that his rise from the leadership of a minority party carried a historical necessity, a role he had been given. He acted on that belief by issuing a statement apologizing for Japan’s aggression and colonial rule.

Because every cabinet minister signed the statement and the Cabinet formally approved it, the document became the official view of the Japanese government. Some ministers privately opposed it, but they felt unable to withhold their signatures for fear of bringing down the coalition. Murayama’s determination was that strong.

Some people call the historical role Murayama believed had been entrusted to him a calling. The column then turns to a broader question: whether human beings truly receive a historical role or calling in their own time, and what that might mean for the chief justice of the Supreme Court.