TOKYO — The line began forming early on
Tuesday, with thousands of Japanese people waiting to offer flowers and prayers
for slain former premier
Shinzo Abe, even as others marched nearby in protest.
اضافة اعلان
The decision to hold a state funeral for the
assassinated ex-leader split public opinion, and the rival scenes in Tokyo laid
bare the divisions.
Foreign dignitaries joined Japanese officials for
the ceremony inside the Budokan. Outside the storied venue, businessmen,
retirees, and teenagers waited in the late September sunshine, some of them
dusted by cooling mist jets.
The line was so long that authorities opened two
mourning tents early, and an estimated 10,000 people filed through in under
four hours.
As she waited, Yoshiko Yokota recalled serving Abe
at a restaurant.
“Even with someone like me, Abe made eye contact and
said thank you,” she told AFP.
She said she “felt paralyzed” on the day of his
shooting, July 8.
“For two, three days, I was just dazed,” the
48-year-old said. “I don’t think Japan will ever have a better leader.”
Nearby was Tomoya Kagawa, a construction worker who
took the day off to pay respects.
“I wanted to join this event to really see him off,”
the 37-year-old said. “I think he made a big contribution to Japan.”
‘I didn’t expect this’
Thirteen-year-old Mizuki
Kyuno spent half an hour trying to find the end of a line that circled around
dozens of city blocks, jumped across streets, and continued downstairs into a
subway station.
“I expected a lot of people. But I didn’t expect
this,” he said.
He acknowledged some discomfort with “the way the
state funeral was organized”.
But he argued that “paying your respects to the
deceased should be seen separately”.
Around 60 percent of Japanese people surveyed before
the funeral said they opposed the event.
Some resent the nearly $12 million price tag, and
others accuse Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida of bypassing parliament when
approving the event in a country where state funerals are rare.
Abe’s murder by a man angry at the Unification
Church also revealed links between his party and the religious group, which
have caused simmering anger.
And Abe’s tenure was divisive: his nationalist views
and plans to reform the pacifist constitution were opposed by many, and he
faced persistent cronyism allegations.
Those who gathered to protest the event pulled no
punches.
“Stop fascist state funeral,” read one sign held by
a protester in a demonstration that had arrived near the Budokan by midday.
Outside the parliament, thousands of mostly older
activists, many waving trade-union flags, used loudspeakers to denounce the
event, Abe’s record, and the government.
“I just found it unforgivable that such an enormous
amount of taxpayer money is being spent,” freelance filmmaker Kanako Harada
told AFP.
“There is nothing he did that I can think highly
of,” the 39-year-old added.
“It’s important that we make it clear that there are
at least people opposing this.”
Tokyo resident Chihei Karasawa, 33, also cited the
scandal over the Unification Church and the cost of the event.
“A private funeral among family has already been
held for him, so why mourn him as a nation too, when there is so much
opposition to it and the price tag is so huge?” he told AFP.
“Taxpayer money should be used for the people
instead.”
As a moment of silence was observed at the Budokan,
protesters yelled out in unison: “Don’t force a moment of silence on us! Cancel
the state funeral! Restore democracy!”
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