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Reuters
Reuters
Politics
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Trevor Hunnicutt

With flowers and a gun salute, Japan bids farewell to divisive Abe

A portrait of Shinzo Abe hangs above the stage during the state funeral for Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe on September 27, 2022 at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. Several current and former heads of state visited Japan for the state funeral of Abe, who was assassinated in July while campaigning on a street. Takashi Aoyama/Pool via REUTERS

With flowers, prayers and a 19-gun salute, Japan honoured slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday at the first state funeral for a former premier in 55 years - a ceremony that has become as controversial as he was in life.

The ceremony started at 2:00 p.m. (0500 GMT), 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.

Guests wait for the start of the state funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on September 27, 2022. PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS

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.

"I know it's divisive and there are a lot of people against this, but there were so many people lined up to offer flowers," said Yoshiko Kojima, a 63-year-old Tokyo housewife.

General view of the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan, 27 September 2022. Thousands of people are gathered in Tokyo to attend the state funeral for former prime minister Shinzo Abe, including foreign dignitaries and representatives from more than 200 countries and international organizations. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS

"I felt that now the funeral is actually taking place, many people have come out to pray for him."

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.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (C) arrives for the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan, 27 September 2022. Thousands of people are gathered in Tokyo to attend the state funeral for former prime minister Shinzo Abe, including foreign dignitaries and representatives from more than 200 countries and international organizations. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS

But opposition to honouring Abe with a state funeral, the first such event since 1967, has persisted, fed by an $11.5-million price tag to be borne by the state at a time of economic pain for ordinary citizens.

In one part of downtown Tokyo, protesters waved signs and chanted "No state funeral" to the tune of a guitar.

Inside the Budokan, better known as a concert venue, a large portrait of Abe draped with black ribbon hung over a bank of green, white and yellow flowers.

U.S. ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel (C), takes his seat as he arrives for the state funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on September 27, 2022. PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS

Nearby, a wall of photos showed Abe strolling with G7 leaders, holding hands with children and visiting disaster areas.

A moment of silence was followed by a retrospective of Abe's political life and speeches by leading ruling party figures, including Kishida and Yoshihide Suga, Abe's successor and Kishida's predecessor as prime minister.

Suga noted that many people in their 20s and 30s had showed up to offer flowers.

TOKYO, JAPAN - SEPTEMBER 27: Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attends the state funeral for Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe on September 27, 2022 at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. Several current and former heads of state visited Japan for the state funeral of Abe, who was assassinated in July while campaigning on a street. Takashi Aoyama/Pool via REUTERS REFILE

"You always said you wanted to make Japan better, that you wanted young people to have hope and pride," Suga said, his voice trembling.

Abe's widow, dressed in a black kimono, wiped away tears as Suga spoke.

The ceremony ended after the last mourner placed flowers on the stage, after which Kishida and Akie Abe carried the ashes out of the hall.

People lay flowers and pay their respects outside Nippon Budokan Hall where the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was held, in Tokyo, Japan September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato

DIVISIVE FIGURE

Japan's longest-serving prime minister was a divisive figure who was dogged by scandals.

An unapologetic nationalist, Abe pushed the country toward a muscular defence posture that many now see as prescient amid growing concern about China, but others criticised as too hawkish.

TOKYO, JAPAN - SEPTEMBER 27: Widow of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Akie Abe carries her husband's ashes behind Japan's Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, during the state funeral for Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe on September 27, 2022 at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. Several current and former heads of state visited Japan for the state funeral of Abe, who was assassinated in July while campaigning on a street. Takashi Aoyama/Pool via REUTERS

About 4,300 people attended the funeral ceremony itself, along with at least 48 current or former government figures, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"It was he who coined the term free and open Indo-Pacific," Harris told reporters after the funeral, referring to a concept that has become the cornerstone of Asian security.

"We cherish those principles and we stand by them. It is part of the bond that forms the alliance."

TOKYO, JAPAN - SEPTEMBER 27: U.S. Vice President, Kamala Harris, attends the state funeral for Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe on September 27, 2022 at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. Several current and former heads of state visited Japan for the state funeral of Abe, who was assassinated in July while campaigning on a street. Takashi Aoyama/Pool via REUTERS

Russia's ambassador to Japan, Mikhail Galuzin, also attended.

Some 20,000 police were deployed, nearby roads were closed and even some schools shut as Japan sought to avoid the security blunders that led to Abe's shooting with a homemade gun by a suspect who, police say, accused the Unification Church of impoverishing his family.

The state funeral for Abe, who received a private funeral days after his assassination, was the first for an ex-premier since one in 1967 for former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

People line up to pay their respects outside Nippon Budokan Hall, where the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was held, in Tokyo, Japan September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Kishida has explained the decision as a way of honouring Abe's achievements, as well as standing up for democracy, but ordinary Japanese remain divided. Only 30% of respondents in a recent poll by TV Asahi agreed with hosting the funeral, against 54% opposed.

"I think Kishida’s decision on the state funeral was driven by a mix of a sense of statesmanship, personal sentiment, and political calculation," said James Brady, the lead Japan analyst at the Teneo consultancy.

"I suspect that Kishida felt Abe’s loss very personally."

Even without the recent revelations about the Unification Church, it would be hard to imagine any circumstances where a majority of Japanese would favour honouring Abe with a state funeral, said Tobias Harris, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and the author of a biography of the former premier.

"He was someone who almost welcomed and invited controversy and saw his mission as overturning a longstanding consensus or set of consensuses" about how Japan was run, Harris said.

Many Japanese were "attached to the postwar regime that he wanted to overturn", Harris said.

(Additional reporting by Irene Wang, Issei Kato, David Dolan and Chang-Ran Kim; Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim, Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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