A national funeral will be organized this fall in Japan in memory of its former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated last Friday at the age of 67, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Thursday.
Shinzo Abe led Japan for more than eight and a half years (between 2006 and 2007 then from the end of 2012 to the summer of 2020), a national record, and strongly marked his economic and diplomatic policy, recalled Fumio Kishida during a press conference.
Signify that “Japan will not yield to violence”
He “was held in very high esteem by the international community, including by foreign heads of state,” said Fumio Kishida. “Messages of condolences poured in from Japan and overseas. In view of this, we will hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe in the fall,” he continued.
The event will also be a way of showing that “Japan will not give in to violence” and that it is “determined to protect democracy”, according to the Prime Minister.
It will be the first state funeral for a former Japanese prime minister since that of Shigeru Yoshida in 1967, who played a key role in the country’s post-war reconstruction.
Funeral reserved for Shinzo Abe’s relatives held
A funeral reserved for the family and relatives of Shinzo Abe was already held on Tuesday in a large Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Thousands of citizens also paid tribute to him around the temple and as his funeral procession passed by in front of the country’s political institutions.
Shinzo Abe was shot dead last Friday in Nara (western Japan) while giving a short speech at an election rally in the middle of the street.
His alleged killer, Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old Japanese man, was immediately arrested after the attack. He told investigators that he targeted Shinzo Abe because he was angry at a religious organization with which the former head of government had links, according to him.
According to local media, the mother of Tetsuya Yamagami would have in the past made significant donations to this organization, to the point of plunging her own family into serious financial difficulties.
The Unification Church, a religious movement of South Korean origin also known as the “Moon sect”, acknowledged this week that Tetsuya Yamagami’s mother was among its followers, without specifying the extent of her donations. She also said Shinzo Abe had “never” been one of her members or advisers.