[1][4] In the party Tamura was one of the leaders of the Interparty Relations Committee and belonged to the faction led by Kakuei Tanaka.

[3] In July that year Tamura headed a delegation which visited North Korea and met with Korean ruler Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang.

[6][7][8] When he was in office he apologized to the United States for an export violation committed by a Japanese manufacturer.

[9] In a reshuffle in December 1988 Hiroshi Mitsuzuka replaced Tamura as minister of international trade and industry.

[8] Tamura became the speaker of the House of Representatives on 2 June 1989, replacing Kenzaburo Hara in the post.