Shinzo Abe’s funeral: Japanese people say goodbye in hearse around Tokyo streets – BBC News

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and several cabinet officials greeted him at the Prime Minister’s residence and watched the hearse leave. Afterwards, the hearse passed through the National Assembly Hall, and several members of Congress were present to greet the hearse.

BBC Japan correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes:

This was originally just a private funeral, only for family members and close friends, but a large number of Japanese people still took to the streets, laying flowers to pay tribute to Shinzo Abe.

From early in the morning, people began to line up outside Tokyo’s Zojoji Temple, and took turns to lay flowers on the flower table.

There will be thunderstorms in the forecast that day, but this does not affect the will of the people. As the funeral proceeds, more and more people gather on the streets.

By 2:30 p.m. local time, thousands of people had gathered near Nagata-cho, Tokyo, where the National Assembly Hall and the Prime Minister’s Residence are located.

I was standing in the crowd outside the Prime Minister’s residence. When Shinzo Abe’s hearse was driving towards this direction, the crowd suddenly fell silent, and the only sound I could hear was the helicopter hovering overhead and broadcasting the broadcast.

Abe Akie, the widow of Shinzo Abe, sat in the front seat of the hearse with a tablet in hand. Accompanying her husband on the final ride, the people present folded their hands and bowed to the hearse. Suddenly, the people behind me began to cry, and others shouted loudly. , “Abe-san, thank you.”

Within seconds, the hearse had pulled away, and a middle-aged woman behind me wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. “We’ll never have a politician like him again,” she said.

There is no doubt that Shinzo Abe has no shortage of divisions and controversies in Japanese politics, especially his view of the history of World War II that often causes trouble.

But in the eyes of the Japanese people who took to the streets to say goodbye to him today, “Abe-san” is the best prime minister in their minds.

Shinzo Abe is Japan’s longest-serving post-war prime minister and one of the most influential political figures. News of his shooting and death while campaigning shocked Japan, where gun crime is rarely heard of.

Police said the shooter had a grudge against “a particular religious organization” of which he believed Abe was a member, although investigations into the shooter’s exact motive were still ongoing.

The day before the funeral, Shinzo Abe’s family held a wake-up ceremony at Zenjoji Temple, and many dignitaries and ordinary people went to lay flowers in mourning.

The shooting death of Abe also shocked the international community, with leaders condemning the violence and expressing condolences.

U.S. President Joe Biden praised Shinzo Abe “as an advocate for the alliance of our nations and the friendship of our peoples.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid tribute to Abe, saying Abe’s global leadership in “a new era full of unknowns will be remembered by many”.