(Tokyo) Japan will organize a national tribute on September 27 in Tokyo for its former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated two weeks ago, the Japanese government spokesman announced on Friday.
Posted at 12:26 a.m.
The event will be held at the Nippon Budokan, a mecca for martial arts competitions, but also for concerts and official ceremonies, such as those organized every August 15 to commemorate the surrender of Japan in 1945 and its deaths during the Second World War.
The Nippon Budokan also hosted the last national funeral organized in 1967 for a former Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru Yoshida, a great architect of Japan’s post-war renaissance.
Government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno again insisted on Friday that Shinzo Abe deserved this national tribute, given his longevity record in power (nearly 9 years over two terms), his “praiseworthy” record. and the close ties he had forged with foreign heads of state.
“We will also accept foreign dignitaries, and countries with whom we have diplomatic relations will be informed of the details,” Matsuno added.
Mr. Abe was shot dead on July 8 in Nara (western Japan) while he was giving a brief election speech in the middle of the street. The alleged shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, was immediately arrested.
According to local media, the suspect explained to the investigators that he deliberately targeted Mr. Abe for the links he believed he had with the Unification Church, a religious movement also known as the “Moon sect”.
Mr. Yamagami’s mother belongs to this Church and has made large donations to it in the past, having thrown their family into serious financial difficulties, according to her son.
A controversial project
A private funeral for Mr. Abe has already taken place shortly after his death at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Thousands of people had paid homage to him near the temple, or as his hearse passed in front of political institutions in the capital.
The national ceremony for Mr. Abe will be “non-denominational, simple and sober” and its budget has not yet been set, Mr. Matsuno said on Friday.
Announced last Friday by incumbent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, nationalist right) like Shinzo Abe before him, this project was poorly received by opposition parties, questioning the well- justified in spending taxpayers’ money in this way.
A group of citizens has even taken this debate to court, demanding an injunction from a Tokyo court to prevent this state funeral.
However, the government has denied any political ulterior motives behind this event.
After resigning in the summer of 2020 for health reasons, Mr Abe had remained highly influential within the LDP as the de facto leader of its main parliamentary faction.
But he was far from unanimous in Japan, with his ultra-nationalist views and his political career studded with numerous patronage scandals.