Narita Tomomi

Born Sept. 15, 1912, in Kagawa Prefecture. Leader of the Social Democratic movement of Japan.

After graduating from the law faculty of the University of Tokyo in 1935, Narita worked for the chemical firm of Mitsui Kagaku Kogye until 1945. In November 1945, he joined the Socialist Party of Japan (SPJ) and was soon elected chairman of the SPJ committee in Kagawa Prefecture. Thereafter he was made a member of the Central Executive Committee of the SPJ. When the SPJ split into leftist and rightist socialist parties in 1951, Narita became chairman of the Central Control Commission of the Left Wing Socialist Party. After the two parties reunited in 1955, Narita served as chairman of the Political Committee and chairman of the Organizational Bureau of the Central Executive Committee of the SPJ. From 1962 until August 1967, he was general secretary of the SPJ and in 1968 became chairman of the SPJ. Narita has been a deputy in the Japanese parliament since 1947.