Japan: State ceremony for murdered Shinzō Abe has begun

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Commemorating Shinzō Abe: The former Japanese Prime Minister was shot dead in July

Photo: Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP

State funerals for ex-prime ministers have long been unusual in Japan, but Shinzō Abe is nonetheless bid farewell with such a tribute.

Now the controversial act of mourning for the recently murdered former prime minister has begun.

Under massive security precautions, around 4,300 mourners from home and abroad gathered in Tokyo on Tuesday for the rare state act.

Ex-Federal President Christian Wulff traveled from Germany.

Accompanied by cannon shots, Abe's widow Akie, dressed in a black kimono, entered the Nippon Budokan martial arts hall with her husband's urn.

There the mourners took their places in front of a large portrait of the murdered former prime minister with black ribbons.

In a nearby park, numerous people laid flowers and prayed at two stalls since morning.

Abe was shot dead on July 8 while delivering a campaign speech in Nara.

The assassin had stated that he had murdered the right-wing conservative out of hatred for the controversial Mun sect.

The Mun sect, known for its conservative and anti-Communist sentiments, with which Abe had been connected, had financially ruined his mother and destroyed the family.

According to surveys, 60 percent of the Japanese against the act of state

While Japan's longest-serving prime minister is seen around the world as a deserving statesman, Abe's nationalist agenda and several scandals of nepotism have been controversial among his own people.

The act of mourning is also under criticism.

According to surveys, about 60 percent of Japanese are against it.

There were angry protests in advance.

Around 20,000 police officers have now been mobilized.

Such a tribute to former prime ministers in Japan has been unusual since World War II.

This has only happened once since then, in 1967 for Shigeru Yoshida.

Among the mourners for Abe are US Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of India and Australia, Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese.

asc/dpa/AFP