World Leaders Pay Respects At Shinzo Abe’s State Funeral In Japan

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese political leaders remembered former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a state funeral as a statesman who steadily led Japan during his record run as premier, amid domestic opposition to the event that has undermined support for the current prime minister. 

About 4,300 people including US Vice President Kamala Harris, world leaders, dignitaries and members of Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party attended the event at the Budokan arena in central Tokyo held under tight security. The somber ceremony, that included a phalanx of police and military honor guard, was Japan’s first state funeral for a former prime minister since 1967 and came more than two months after the country’s longest-serving premier was assassinated on the campaign trail by a man with a homemade gun. 

Abe, who died at the age of 67, was a defining and sometimes divisive figure for Japan as the country navigated economic stagnation and China’s rise next door during his two terms, from 2006-2007 and 2012-2020. He was a security hawk, a fiscal dove, a defender of Japan’s alliance with the US and an advocate for maintaining the postwar global order. 

Before the ceremony, Abe’s wife Akie arrived carrying the ashes of the former prime minister, where she bowed to the current leader Fumio Kishida and entered the venue, with military cannons firing off salutes. 

Outside the venue, thousands of people -- many who broke down in tears -- placed flowers at a memorial set up for the public to honor Abe. The line at one point stretched about 1.7 kilometers, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

There were also scattered protests around Tokyo, including one a few kilometers away from the Budokan, where scores of people held placards declaring their opposition to the state funeral and admonished the government for dispensing the honor upon the former premier.

Kishida, whose decision to spend 1.7 billion yen ($12 million) on the service for his former boss has met with growing anger as households grapple with ballooning food and fuel prices. Investigations linking Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party to a religious sect whose founder was convicted in the US of tax fraud further fueled opposition. 

These factors have contributed to a tumble in voter support for Kishida’s cabinet to its lowest levels since he took office a year ago, and risk distracting from his policy objectives of reducing economic disparities and bolstering Japan’s defenses.

Abe’s suspected killer told police he was motivated by a grudge over his association with the group commonly known as the Unification Church. The gunman blamed the church for taking massive donations from his widowed mother decades ago and driving his family into poverty. 

Surveys show about three in five respondents overall are opposed to the state funeral, though those in their teens and twenties tend to support it.  

The South Korean-based church has a long list of court judgments against it in Japan over its fundraising methods. For its part, the church has said it took steps more than a decade ago to curb “excessive actions” by its members. 

Kishida has sought to portray the funeral as an opportunity for diplomacy, planning talks with 30 top officials including the US vice president, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was to have been the only Group of Seven leader to make the trip, canceled his visit to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona.  

Before the funeral, Harris spoke with South Korean Prime Minister Han Duk-soo and Albanese. She met with Kishida on Monday. 

Attendance was lower than the 6,000 initially estimated by the government, with many opposition politicians opting to stay away. The Emperor was represented by his brother, Crown Prince Akishino and six other members of the Imperial household, in line with tradition.

Surrounding roads were closed to regular traffic and guests driven in buses to the venue amid the heightened security following criticism of the failure to prevent Abe’s murder, which last month prompted the head of the police agency to resign. Tens of thousands of police, many of them dispatched from other areas of the country, were on patrol in the capital, according to the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper.

(Updates and recasts with the funeral being held.)

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