Photo/Illutration Tetsuzo Fuwa, former chair of the central committee of the Japanese Communist Party, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Sept. 22, 2017 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Tetsuzo Fuwa, a former leader of the Japanese Communist Party who pushed a “complete revision” of the party platform, died on Dec. 30, JCP officials announced. He was 95.

Fuwa, who was born Kenjiro Ueda, became head of the JCP secretariat at the age of 40 and was called “the prince of the communist party.”

Aiming to expand the party’s influence and attract unaffiliated voters, he promoted a “flexible line.”

In 2000, Fuwa removed words such as “vanguard party” and “socialist revolution” from the party rules and worked to change its image from a “revolutionary party” to a “people’s party.”

In 2004, he revamped the party’s platform, including an acceptance of the emperor system and the Self-Defense Forces.

He wrote many papers and books and continued to be the JCP’s ideological linchpin.

Fuwa joined the party in 1947 before graduating from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Science.

He was first elected to the Lower House from the former Tokyo No. 6 district in 1969.

In 1970, when Kenji Miyamoto assumed the post of chairman of the executive committee, Fuwa gained the post of head of the secretariat.

In 1982, he became chairman of the executive committee.

Fuwa normalized party relations with the Communist Party of China in 1998, which had been severed 32 years earlier in the Cultural Revolution.

In 2000, Fuwa took the post of central committee chairman and promoted future party leader Kazuo Shii, then 46, to chairman of the executive committee.

Fuwa was elected 11 times before retiring from the Lower House in 2003.

Because of his smile and personality, the foreign media sometimes called Fuwa the “Smiling Communist.”

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