With flowers, prayers and a 19–gun salute, Japan honoured former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, 27 September at the first state funeral for a former premier in 55 years – a ceremony that has become as controversial as he was in life, informs the news agency Reuters.
The ceremony started at 2:00 p.m. (local time), with Abe’s ashes carried into the Nippon Budokan Hall in central Tokyo by his widow, Akie, to music from a military band and the booms of the honour-guard salute, which echoed inside the hall.
Thousands of mourners flooded to designated spots near the venue from early morning to pay their last respects.
Within hours, about 10 000 people had laid flowers, television showed, with more waiting in three–hour long queues.
Abe’s killing at a July 8 campaign rally set off a flood of revelations about ties between lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) he once ran and the Unification Church, which critics call a cult, sparking a backlash against current premier Fumio Kishida.
With his support ratings dragged to their lowest ever by the controversy, Kishida has apologised and vowed to cut party ties to the church.
But opposition to honouring Abe with a state funeral, the first such event since 1967, has cost sate USD 11.5 million (around 12 million euros) at a time of economic pain for ordinary citizens.
Opposition has largely been fueled by revelations of links Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had to the Unification Church, which became widely known after he was gunned down on the campaign trail in July.
The suspect in the shooting accused Abe of promoting the group, which critics call a cult due to its mass weddings and aggressive fund–raising tactics.
The suspect said the church had impoverished his family, according to police.
The rising cost of the funeral, which the government estimates at 1.65 billion yen (around 12 million euros), has added fuel to the fire at a time of economic hardship for many.
Japan’s last fully state–funded funeral for a prime minister was for Shigeru Yoshida in 1967. Subsequent ones have been paid for by both the state and the LDP.