Yesterday, thousands of people attended the funeral procession for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated last Friday, in front of the symbolic headquarters in Tokyo after the funeral ceremonies were held.
“I am shocked and angry,” said Tsukasa Yukawa, 41. I can’t get over my sadness, so I came to lay flowers and pray.”
“I really respected him,” he said. He was a great prime minister and did a lot to increase Japan’s presence in the world.”
A public honoring ceremony is to be held later in Tokyo in Yamaguchi Prefecture (southwest), of which Abe was one of the representatives in parliament.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is already in Tokyo for talks ahead of the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Bali, said goodbye to Abe, and Taiwan’s vice president made a special visit to Tokyo for the occasion.
In total, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said that more than 1,700 condolence telegrams had been received from 259 countries, regions and international organizations.
On Friday, Abe came under fire as he attended a rally in Nara, western Japan, ahead of an election to renew half of the Senate seats.