Many Japanese criticize the tribute paid to the former Prime Minister, accused of dangerous links with the powerful sect Moon.
Le Monde with AP, AFP and Reuters
Honor is rare and, in this case, controversial. National funerals started in Tokyo on Tuesday, September 27, in honor of Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese Minister murdered on July 8. Her widow, Akie Abe, dressed in a black kimono, slowly walked in the Budokan, the Martial Arts Palace, wearing an urn containing her husband’s ashes, in a wooden box wrapped in a purple fabric striated with gold. Soldiers in white uniform then placed the urn on a flowered pedestal of yellow and white chrysanthemums. The guard of honor fired nineteen cannon shots.
Members of the Government, Parliament and the Judicial Institution, including Prime Minister in office, Fumio Kishida, will pronounce condolence speeches, followed by Akie Abe. Kamala Harris, the vice-president of the United States, is present with the Washington ambassador, Rahm Emanuel. The public of some 4,300 people have dozens of foreign dignitaries.
Shinzo Abe had been cremated in July after private funeral in a temple of Tokyo, a few days after being killed by bullets, at 67, when he gave a campaign speech to Nara, a city of the west of the country.
The capital of Japan is under maximum security on Tuesday. Hours before the ceremony, hundreds of people loaded with bouquets of flowers were waiting near the Kudanzaka park, where the Budokan palace is located, forming a long line of several houses. Among them, Masayuki Aoki, a 70 -year -old trader, recalls his “check” with Shinzo Abe in Yokohama, during the senatorial campaign, just a few days before he was killed. “I am emotionally linked to him, and I also supported the PLD,” he said. I had to come and offer him flowers. “Masae Kurokawa, 64, said for his part to see in Mr. Abe” a big official who brought Japan back to a high level on the international scene. “
” Funeral diplomacy “
Fumio Kishida judged that his predecessor, with the longest longevity in power since 1945, deserved such national funeral, but they deeply divide opinion. The controversy was nourished by the absence of democratic consultation, the high cost of the initiative – nearly 12 million euros -, as well as the links between the deceased and its movement, the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) – To which Mr. Kishida belongs-with the Church of Unification, also called sect Moon.
Pacific demonstrations against the event have sometimes brought together several thousand people in recent weeks and a new rally took place Tuesday in front of Parliament. A man also tried to set himself up by fire near the Prime Minister’s offices last week, to protest against the national tribute, according to local media.
The government maintains that the ceremony is not intended to force anyone to honor Shinzo Abe. The main opposition parties do not attend: among them, many believe that the event recalls the imperial pre-war governments, which used state funeral to stir up nationalist feeling.
Fumio Kishida had interviews with foreign visitors this week, in what he called “funeral diplomacy”. These discussions must strengthen the country’s ties with its partners while Japan faces several regional and global challenges, with threats from China, Russia and North Korea. By Wednesday, Mr. Kishida must speak with around forty leaders, but no member of the G7.
“threat to democracy”
The links are several decades between the PLD and the ultraconservative Church of reunification, accused of harvesting staggering gifts by subjecting its members to the brain washing. The assassin of Shinzo Abe would have told the police to have acted because of his ties with the Moon sect: according to his statements, his mother has spoiled his life by squandering family money for the benefit of the organization.
“That the close ties between the PLD and the Church of Unification can have interfered in public policies is seen, by the Japanese, as a threat to the greater democracy than the assassination of Mr. Abe” , writes Jiro Yamaguchi, professor of political science at Hosei University, in a recent article.