Mourners yesterday lined the streets of central Tokyo to bid farewell to assassinated former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, as his hearse was driven past political landmarks after a private funeral.
The nation’s longest-serving prime minister was gunned down on Friday while campaigning, in a crime that rattled Japan and prompted an outpouring of international condemnation and grief.
His funeral was held at Tokyo’s Zojoji temple, with relatives, foreign dignitaries and close acquaintances in attendance, including Vice President William Lai (賴清德).
Photo: AFP
Elsewhere in the temple compound, thousands of well-wishers lined up in the humid heat to pay their respects before a photograph of the late leader, who held office until 2020.
“I can’t get over my sadness, so I came here to lay flowers,” said consultant Tsukasa Yokawa, 41, describing Abe as “a great prime minister who did a lot to elevate Japan’s presence” globally.
After the service, a hearse carrying Abe’s body departed for a final tour of some of the political landmarks he served in: the parliament, the prime minister’s office and the headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Photo: AFP
Residents gathered along the route, while staff and officials, including ministers and senior LDP figures, stood somberly outside each venue. They pressed their hands together and bowed their heads in respect as the car arrived.
Abe’s widow, Akie, sat in the front of the hearse — carrying her husband’s mortuary tablet inscribed with his posthumous Buddhist name — and bowed back.
Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s brother, called the killing “an act of terrorism.”
“I’ve lost my brother. At the same time, Japan has lost an irreplaceable leader,” he wrote on Twitter yesterday. “My brother loved Japan and risked his life to be a politician and protect this nation.”
In a speech at the funeral, Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso recalled drinking and playing golf with his close ally.
“You were supposed to read an eulogy for me. This is very painful,” he said, according to Japanese media.
Abe was campaigning in the western city of Nara when he was shot.
The murder suspect, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, is in custody and has told police he targeted Abe because he believed the politician was linked to an organization he resented.
Yamagami approached him from behind in broad daylight, in circumstances that have raised questions about security.
Japanese National Public Safety Commission Chairman Satoshi Ninoyu pledged to hold a full review of any security failings.
Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi said that more than 1,700 condolence messages had been received from 259 countries, territories and international bodies.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unscheduled stop in Tokyo to pay tribute to Abe, describing him as a “man of vision.”
Lai also traveled to Japan, attending a wake for Abe at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo on Monday evening and the private funeral at Zojoji yesterday.
He was scheduled to return to Taiwan last night.
Taiwanese and Japanese authorities have downplayed Lai’s visit, saying he had traveled to Tokyo in a personal capacity.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said its embassy in Japan had lodged “stern representations” with the government there about Lai attending the event, saying his visit to Japan was a “political trick that will not succeed.”
Hayashi told a press conference that Lai attended Abe’s funeral as a private citizen, adding that Tokyo’s policy toward Taipei had not changed.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said the ministry would not comment on Lai’s “private itinerary” in Tokyo.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus director-general Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said that while Taiwan and Japan have said that Lai visited Japan in a personal capacity, there is no doubt that his status as vice president makes him the envoy of Taiwan.
DPP caucus secretary-general Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) added that Taiwan’s relations with Japan are deep-rooted and the two nations share a close bond — like close friends, or one might even say family.
That both Taiwan’s ruling and opposition parties have paid tribute to Abe shows that the late prime minister was Taiwan’s best friend and Taiwan-Japan relations are a very important link in the nation’s diplomatic policy, Chen said.
Additional reporting by CNA, Reuters and Hsieh Chun-lin
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS