Shinzo Abe

Demonstrators marched on Japan's parliament on Tuesday to protest against the state funeral of Shinzo Abe, while tens of thousands of supporters queued ...

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said the publicly financed ceremony was a deserved honor for Japan's longest-serving modern political leader, but it has deeply ...

Opponents say holding a state funeral for Abe is equivalent to an endorsement of ruling party ties to the Unification Church. Footage included his 2006 parliamentary speech vowing to build a "beautiful Japan" and his "Toward the Alliance of Hope" speech at the U.S. Kishida has been criticized for forcing through the costly event and over the widening controversy about Abe's and the governing party's decades of close ties with the ultra-conservative Unification Church, accused of raking in huge donations by brainwashing adherents. ambassador to Japan, during the ceremony, and they later joined others by placing a branch of chrysanthemum flowers on a table set before the pedestal. "I'm emotionally attached to him and I've been supporting the LDP, too," Masayuki Aoki, a 70-year-old business owner, said, recalling that he had shared a fist bump with Abe at a campaign stop in Yokohama days before his assassination. Soldiers in white uniforms took Abe's ashes and placed them on a pedestal filled with white and yellow chrysanthemum flowers and decorations.

Japan's former leader Shinzo Abe was honored at a rare and divisive state funeral Tuesday that deeply split public opinion and that drew angry protests.

Opponents say holding a state funeral for Abe is equivalent to an endorsement of ruling party ties to the Unification Church. Footage included his 2006 parliamentary speech vowing to build a "beautiful Japan" and his "Toward the Alliance of Hope" speech at the U.S. Kishida has been criticized for forcing through the costly event and over the widening controversy about Abe's and the governing party's decades of close ties with the ultra-conservative Unification Church, accused of raking in huge donations by brainwashing adherents. "I'm emotionally attached to him and I've been supporting the LDP, too," Masayuki Aoki, a 70-year-old business owner, said, recalling that he had shared a fist bump with Abe at a campaign stop in Yokohama days before his assassination. ambassador to Japan, during the ceremony, and they later joined others by placing a branch of chrysanthemum flowers on a table set before the pedestal. Soldiers in white uniforms took Abe's ashes and placed them on a pedestal filled with white and yellow chrysanthemum flowers and decorations.

With flowers, prayers and a 19-gun salute, Japan honoured slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday at the first state funeral for a former premier ...

Only 30% of respondents in a recent poll by TV Asahi agreed with hosting the funeral, against 54% opposed. It is part of the bond that forms the alliance." The ceremony started at 2:00 p.m. "It was he who coined the term free and open Indo-Pacific," Harris told reporters after the funeral, referring to a concept that has become the cornerstone of Asian security. In one part of downtown Tokyo, protesters waved signs and chanted "No state funeral" to the tune of a guitar. TOKYO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - With flowers, prayers and a 19-gun salute, Japan honoured slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday at the first state funeral for a former premier in 55 years - a ceremony that has become as controversial as he was in life.

Shinzo Abe was Japan's longest-serving prime minister and one of the country's most recognisable political figures, known for cultivating international ...

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