Japan is set to stage a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and other world leaders, amid growing domestic opposition to the event that has undermined support for the current premier.
The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Budokan arena in central Tokyo under tight security. Japan’s first state funeral for a former prime minister since 1967 comes more than two months after the country’s longest-serving premier was assassinated on the campaign trail by a man with a homemade gun.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision to spend 1.7 billion yen ($12 million) on the service for his former boss has been met with growing anger as households grapple with ballooning food and fuel prices. Investigations linking Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party to a religious sect whose founder was convicted in the U.S. of tax fraud further fueled opposition.
