The Latest Breaking News from Shinzo Abe

A private funeral is being held Tuesday for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose assassination last week shocked a nation and brought renewed attention to his key policies such as bolstering the nation’s defenses.

With prayers, flowers and flags draped in black ribbons, Japan on Tuesday said farewell to Shinzo Abe, a polarising figure who dominated politics as the country's longest-serving premier, before being gunned down at a campaign rally last week.

It is not an overstatement to say that the late prime minister Shinzo Abe single-handedly promoted Japan's regional and international profile through unconventional economic and security policies. Abe linked his country's economic policies with security and strategic twists in its relations with the rest of the world, Asean in particular.

While gun control enthusiasts rushed to defend Japan's firearm restrictions after Shinzo Abe's assassination, copying that approach in the U.S. is legally, politically, and practically impossible.