Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Japan to participate in the state funeral of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on September 27, Kyodo News reported from Tokyo. The Indian side is yet to announce the visit and a senior official in response to the news said, the visit is “possible,” indicating the details are yet to be worked out.
Mr. Modi will begin the month of September by hosting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, which is being planned as a significant regional interaction. This will be followed by the leaders’ summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Samarkand during September 15-16. Next will be the U.N. General Assembly’s annual session in New York which is likely to be of great importance because of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
A visit to Tokyo for the planned ‘state’ funeral for Shinzo Abe is therefore a possibility if Mr. Modi flies on the way back to Delhi to the Japanese capital from the United States after completing engagements in New York. An official emphasised, “no final decision” has been taken about the trip to Tokyo for the ceremony. Abe had on several occasions expressed admiration for Mr. Modi and the Indian leader had expressed “unbearable pain” following the assassination of Abe by a former Japanese military man.
