Japan held a state funeral ceremony for the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday (27th) at 2:00 pm local time (1:00 pm Hong Kong time), with 1,390 members of the Self-Defense Forces including the honor guard, and about 4,300 dignitaries at home and abroad. Waiting to attend; the police mobilized 20,000 people to maintain security, and hundreds of people rallied near the venue to oppose holding a state funeral. When the vehicle carrying Abe’s ashes arrived at the Nippon Budokan where the state funeral was held, the Self-Defense Forces fired 19 cannons to pay their respects. Abe’s ashes were transported from his home at around 1:20 pm, and 20 honor guards of the Self-Defense Forces lined up to escort him at the scene. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivered a condolence speech at the ceremony.
According to the state funeral arrangement, the vehicle carrying Abe’s ashes departed from his residence in Tominoya, Tokyo, and 20 honor guards greeted him in front of the door. After arriving at the Budokan at 2 p.m., Abe’s wife Akie holding the ashes and accompanied by Kishida entered the venue. The honor guard fired a “hanging cannon”. The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hiroichi Matsuno, who served as the vice chairman of the funeral, gave the opening speech. After that, the Japanese national anthem was played, followed by a minute’s silence, and a clip of Abe’s death, including Abe’s 10th anniversary of the 311 Fukushima earthquake. When playing the piano for blessings, as well as pictures of his political achievements during his tenure and meeting with dignitaries from various countries.
Kishida, Speaker of the House of Representatives Hiroyuki Hosoda, Speaker of the Senate Hidehisa Otsuji, Chief of the Supreme Court Saburo Tokura, and former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga who was a friend delivered speeches one after another. In his speech, Kishida praised Abe’s contributions during his tenure and praised him as a person of courage, and people in Japan and the world will miss Abe and his era in power; Yoshihide Suga choked up when he delivered the speech, and Akie also shed tears. In terms of the royal family, the Japanese Emperor Naruhito and his wife, and the upper Emperor Akihito and his wife will send envoys to salute, and a total of seven members of Qiu Xiao Palace, including the pro-emperor Wenren and his wife, will attend the ceremony.
The Kudanzaka Park near Budokan was originally scheduled to open to the public at 10:00 a.m., but due to the large number of people who arrived early, the opening time was pushed to 9:30. A large number of people lined up to lay flowers, and flowers can still be prepared before 4:00 p.m. . Of the 67 local governments in the country, 65 local governments, except Okinawa Prefecture and Kawasaki City, flew their flags at half-mast or hung flags in condolences, 61 local government governors or mayors participated in the state funeral, while Okinawa, Shizuoka, Miyazaki, Nagano Representatives from the prefecture, Sagamihara City and Shizuoka City will not attend for reasons such as disaster relief.
