Nearly three months after the accident, the assassination of Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister, continues to spark controversy in the country over a state funeral the government plans to hold in his honor, while many Japanese consider it a “waste of time.” public money” in honor of the man who “wrong”. in governing the country.
And the American newspaper The New York Times reports that anger prevails in Japan not because of the murder, or the killer’s ability to manufacture and use firearms in a country where weapons are subject to severe restrictions, or guards who failed to protect Abe, but rather because his party, the party of the ruling Liberal Democrats, plans to hold a state funeral for him next week.
Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister, is experiencing the worst drop in popularity since he took over as party leader last fall. Any sense of public mourning appeared to fade as thousands of protesters took to the streets and signed petitions against a state funeral.
The newspaper reports that the demonstrators are complaining that the ceremony is a waste of public money unilaterally imposed on the country by Kishida and his government.
As hundreds of international dignitaries prepare to visit Tokyo on Tuesday for a state funeral – the first for a Japanese prime minister in 55 years – the backlash has also turned into a referendum on nearly eight straight years of Abe in power.
According to the report, Abe enjoys broad support on the world stage but is even more divisive in his home country, with those who opposed his right-wing policies now voicing countless grievances against his rule.
Azumi Tamura, an associate professor of sociology at Shiga University, said those who criticize the state funeral believe he has been implicated in a number of controversial decisions and scandals, including allegations that his government has improperly served political friends and poorly dealt with coronavirus in the early days. corona pandemic.
While voters may continue to hold on to Abe’s party in the name of stability, they are expressing criticism of his actions when he was alive, opposing attempts to honor his memory after his death.
Thousands of people gathered in Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo on Monday to protest the funeral, waving colorful flags representing a wide range of issues: women’s empowerment, disability rights and opposition to nuclear power.
Internationally, Abe has earned praise for his early success in boosting Japan’s moribund economy, hosting former President Barack Obama on the first U.S. presidential visit to Hiroshima, and skillful handling of former President Donald Trump. He also helped maintain a comprehensive multinational trade deal designed to be a bulwark against China, even after Trump pulled the United States out of it.
But he is criticized at home for ignoring massive protests from the populace and opposition parties and pushing through a law that would rethink Japan’s pacifist constitution and allow combat missions overseas on the side of allied forces. According to the report, the women also expressed disappointment that he had failed to deliver on his promises to reform the centuries-old patriarchy.
“It is very unfortunate that a political funeral will take place when more than half of Japanese voters oppose holding this state funeral,” the paper quoted Katsuya Okada, general secretary of the Constitution Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, as saying.
Some opinion polls show that more than 60 percent of Japanese are opposed to funerals.
Damage to relationships with the church
More devastating was the revelation of wide-ranging links between the Unification Church, which Abe’s killer Tetsui Yamagami said took nearly $1 million from his mother, and the LDP.
So far, the party has announced that nearly half of its 379 Liberal Democrat MPs have acknowledged their ties to the Unification Church, ranging from sending congratulatory telegrams to church organizations to speaking at church conferences, the report said.
And last August, Japan’s prime minister announced that his party would sever all ties with the Unification Church, known as the “Sect of the Moon.”
Fumio Kishida said at a press conference that “severing ties between the relevant organization” and the Liberal Democratic Party parliamentarians (right-wing conservatives) will be the backbone of the party.
Reuters quoted the government as estimating the cost of the funeral at 1.65 billion yen ($11.5 million), adding fuel to the fire at a time when many Japanese are struggling economically.
And the BBC reported that some Japanese media are wondering why Abe’s funeral cost more than Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
While the actual amount of money spent on the Queen’s state funeral has not been released, a Japanese media report cites the Daily Mirror figure of ₹8 million (1.3 billion yen) to compare it to the estimated cost of the former prime minister’s funeral.
The New York Times notes that as the Unification Church unfolded, Yamagami emerged as an anti-Japanese hero who felt beaten by economic and social forces beyond his control, says Japanese journalist Tamaki Kawasaki.
Over the past few decades, growth stagnation and rising inequality, fueled in part by Abe’s economic policies, have produced a generation with “a strong sense of sacrifice,” Kawasaki said.
Masao Adachi, a film director and former radical leftist, said he plans to release the Yamagami film in a limited number of feature theaters on the day of Abe’s funeral, before the full version is released nationwide early next year.
In a shocking opposition rally less than a week after the funeral, Reuters reported that a 70-year-old man was taken to hospital after setting himself on fire outside the prime minister’s residence on Wednesday to protest the funeral, local media reported. reported.
Last August, the prime minister defended his decision to hold a state funeral for Abe as controversy flared in Japan over spending public money on the honor, which would be the largest for a former Japanese prime minister since 1967.
“Having this state funeral does not mean forcing people to express their condolences,” Kishida said.
Since the end of World War II, the country has very rarely held national funerals for political figures.
Abe, the country’s most prominent politician and longest-serving prime minister, was shot dead during a July 8 speech in Nara, Japan’s western city.
The right-wing nationalist Abe was a prominent figure and controversial politician who left power in 2020 for health reasons.
