The national funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which will take place on September 27 in Tokyo, is far from a consensus. A man set himself on fire on Wednesday near the prime minister’s headquarters in the Japanese capital before being rushed to hospital unconscious. According to the local media, TV Asahi, he had previously expressed his opposition to the funeral to the police officers present at the scene. A message written to the same address was also found next to it.
Thousands of protesters also gathered in an exceptional way in Tokyo, in a country where protest parades in the streets are rare.
“Typhoon Nanmadol has not stopped protesters from holding rallies to demand the cancellation of Shinzo Abe’s state funeral,” wrote Michiyo Ishida, Tokyo correspondent for Channel News Asia.
The “national funeral”, an exceptional tribute
Some days after the assassination of Shinzo Abe during a meeting and his private funeral in Tokyo in July, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that a state funeral would be held in his honor later.
Organizing such a funeral is a very rare privilege for a political figure, usually reserved for the emperor and his close circle.
The only precedent: the bombs reserved for another prime minister, Yoshida Shigeru, at the head of the country almost continuously from 1946 to 1954, a period that marks the phase of reconstruction and pacification of Japan after the Second World War.
a controversial figure
Fumio Kishida justified holding a state funeral for Shinzo Abe for his record longevity in power in Japan -7 years and 8 months as prime minister from 2012 to 2020- and his economic and diplomatic legacy, as well as for the wave of emotion all over the world. awakened by his murder.
The Prime Minister also wanted to make this ceremony a symbol of Japan’s refusal to give in to violence and its determination to “protect democracy.”
However, Shinzo Abe’s personality and record are far from unanimous in Japan, where he has been vilified by many for his ultra-liberal and nationalist views, his desire to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution, and his proximity to numerous political and financial scandals.
“The fact that we are organizing this national funeral does not mean that we are forcing people to express their condolences,” Fumio Kishida was forced to clarify in late August.
A ceremony considered too luxurious
One of the main criticisms of the opponents of the ceremony refers to its price. Because in the form, it is the splendor that will prevail. D’abord announced at 250 million yen (1.7 million euros) in July, the ceremony will finally cost around 1.7 billion yen (près 12 million euros), according to a new estimate of the government devoilée Some days ago.
The revised amount also includes the substantial costs of security and hospitality for the many expected foreign dignitaries. France will also be represented by Nicolas Sarkozy, as regards the enthronement of the new Emperor of Japan Naruhito in 2019 or for the tribute ceremony to the Sultan of Oman in 2020.
This sudden inflation of event costs “also did not make a good impression in terms of transparency” on the part of the Kishida government, says Yoshinobu Yamamoto, emeritus professor of international politics at the University of Tokyo.
But with invitations already sent out and preparations already well under way, “a cancellation is not an option” for Fumio Kishida.
This ceremony must take place in a context in which Japan is also experiencing economic difficulties linked to the global dynamics of inflation. In addition, the yen has collapsed against the dollar in recent months while 10% of Japanese imports come from the United States. This Thursday, the government was forced to intervene in the foreign exchange market to support the yen, for the first time since 1998.
A missing query gone wrong
Another element that poses a problem: Prime Minister Fumio Kishada did not request authorization from Parliament to organize this exceptional funeral. Nothing forces him to do it and he also said that he thought he could make this decision on his own.
Fumio Kishida “believed that the government had the right to decide what kind of events it organizes. But there is no formal system in Japan to define a state funeral. Therefore, the opposition argues that his government should at least request authorization from Parliament. after the discussions. Yoshinobu Yamamoto explains.
Shadow of the Moon sect
Finally, Shinzo Abe was linked to the Unification Church, also known as the Moon sect, an organization founded in South Korea in 1954 with the aim of bringing together all the Christian religions of the world. While still legal in Japan, the cult has been criticized for pressuring its followers to donate money.
It was also to protest his ties to the sect that the killer, Tetsuya Yamagami, said he targeted the former prime minister, after failing to directly attack sect representatives. He blamed them for extorting money from his mother, a member of the Church.
In fact, Shinzo Abe was not a member or adviser of the sect. But he was one of the political figures from around the world invited to conferences organized by entities close to this religious organization. Thus he spoke in September 2021 at one of his conferences, organized online. Similarly, the Korean fringe of the Church already paid tribute to him during a funeral vigil on Monday.
Since his death, revelations have not stopped raining about the extent of the links between this Moon sect and Japanese parliamentarians, especially members of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, right-wing in power), previously led by Shinzo Abe and today by the current Prime Minister. Minister.
In early September, an internal PLD investigation showed that half of its 379 elected deputies had ties to the Unification Church. Although Fumio Kishida reshuffled his government in August and promised that the LDP would cut all ties with the Unification Church, his government’s popularity has waned in part because of the affair.
For its part, the opposition has been careful to end its links with the sect in order to intensify its attacks against the majority.
Source: BFM TV
