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.
These factors have contributed to a tumble in voter support for Kishida’s cabinet to its lowest levels since he took office a year ago, and risk distracting from his policy objectives of reducing economic disparities and bolstering Japan’s defenses.
Abe’s suspected killer told police he was motivated by a grudge over his association with the group commonly known as the Unification Church. The gunman blamed the church for taking massive donations from his widowed mother decades ago and driving his family into poverty.
Surveys show about three in five respondents overall are opposed to the state funeral, though those in their teens and twenties tend to support it.
The South Korean-based church has a long list of court judgments against it in Japan over its fundraising methods. For its part, the church has said it took steps more than a decade ago to curb “excessive actions” by its members.
Kishida has sought to portray the funeral as an opportunity for diplomacy, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese among the 4,300 people expected to attend. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was to have been the only Group of Seven leader to make the trip, canceled his visit to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona.
Attendance is set to be lower than the 6,000 initially estimated by the government, with many opposition politicians opting to stay away. The Emperor will be represented by his brother, Crown Prince Akishino and six other members of the Imperial household, in line with tradition, Kyodo News reported.
Surrounding roads will be closed to regular traffic and guests driven in buses to the venue amid the heightened security following criticism of the failure to prevent Abe’s murder, which last month prompted the head of the police agency to resign. Tens of thousands of police, many of them dispatched from other areas of the country, are expected to be on patrol in the capital, according to the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper.
