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 Mr. Kishida during ‘a press conference.
“Japan will not give in to violence”
“Messages of condolences have 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 said. 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. 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 through the center of the capital.
Killer arrested immediately after attack
Shinzo Abe was shot dead last Friday in Nara (western Japan) while delivering an election speech. His alleged killer, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, 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 movement of South Korean origin also known as the “Moon sect”, acknowledged on Monday that Tetsuya Yamagami’s mother was among its followers, without specifying the extent of her gifts. She also said that Shinzo Abe had “never” been one of her members or advisers.