Luminaries from Japan and abroad congregated Tuesday to say their goodbyes at the funeral ceremony for former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated on Friday.
The event took place following a wake the night before with an estimated 2,500 attendance, according to Japan Times.
Before the private ceremony at the Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, crowds gathered around the venue in the early morning, per Nikkei Asia.
The crowd watched as a black hearse carried Abe's body. His widow, Akie, was seen in the backseat. The funeral car drove toward Nagatacho, Japan's political hub, where Abe spent most of his long and illustrious career and the site of the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) headquarters, the parliamentary building, and the Prime Minister's Office.
Most of those grieving in attendance were carrying flowers, some of them in tears, as they stood in front of the renowned Tokyo Tower. Before the funeral, people lined up and placed their flowers at the temple. Others went to the LDP headquarters, where a temporary mourning area was set up.
Final Bow for the Beloved Leader
As the hearse passed in front of the party headquarters, LDP executives and lawmakers bowed. Government officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, bowed their heads as the funeral car entered the premises of the Office of the Prime Minister.
U.S. officials were among the visiting diplomats that attended the wake or the funeral. Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, was in Japan to meet with her Japanese equivalent and William Lai, the Vice President of Taiwan, a close friend of the Abes.
After making an unplanned trip to Japan on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken delivered a personal letter from U.S. President Joe Biden to Kishida to hand over to the Abe family.
Until Tuesday, Japan has received around 1,700 formal messages from 259 nations and territories worldwide.
Hoping for an opportunity to say goodbye for the last time, Naomi Aoki, a supporter of the Liberal Democratic Party, lingered outside the Parliament building on Tuesday, as per a CNN report.
Aoki said: "For me, he was the most respected politician in Japan. I want to say the last farewell and I was off work today. He has made a great impact on my life. I don't think his death will be for nothing. People all over the world will feel the impact of what he achieved in his life."
Unification Church Puzzled on Suspect's Resentment Towards Congregation
The Unification Church stated on Monday that it was baffled by reports that the person accused of killing Shinzo Abe harbored a grudge toward the organization, CNN reported.
According to Tomihiro Tanaka, the Japan office chair of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, there is a "big distance" between holding resentment towards their organization and the killing of Prime Minister Abe.
"We struggle to understand why this happened," Tanaka remarked. "We will cooperate fully with the police to reveal his motive,"
The church's statements follow an earlier report by NHK that the suspect, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, had targeted the former Prime Minister because he thought Abe's grandfather, also a former Prime Minister, had helped the growth of a religious group he hated.
Nobusuke Kishi, the prime minister from 1957 to 1960, was the target of an assassination attempt in the latter year of his term. Despite being stabbed six times, he survived.
According to state broadcaster NHK, Yamagami admitted that he had a "grudge against a particular religious group" and believed that Abe "had a close relationship" with the group.
He said: "My mother got into a group and made a large donation, and my family life was messed up."
Yamagami admitted to killing Abe last Friday in the city of Nara, where the former leader was delivering a campaign speech. Although Yamagami has not been formally charged, he is being investigated on suspicion of murder.
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