Shinzo Abe’s Funeral More Expensive Than Queen Elizabeth’s.
Olusiji Balogun.
Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated with a homemade gun while on the campaign trail in July, was buried on Tuesday, 27th September, 2022.
Like Queen Elizabeth II last week, Abe was buried in a state funeral attended by international dignitaries and surrounded by grand ritual and grieving mourners.
While an official tally has not been disclosed by the UK government, the Queen’s funeral was expected to have cost about $8.5 million. Abe’s was about $12 million, according to a Japanese government spokesperson.
Security accounted for about half of the costs, with another third going into hosting the estimated 700 foreign dignitaries, according to a BBC report.
The Japanese public is divided about Abe’s legacy
The price tag for Abe’s funeral is sparking resentment in Japan. A survey by Japan’s Kyodo news agency found that 70% of respondents thought the government was spending too much, and police pushed back against thousands of angry protestors outside the event today.
The costs are only part of the reason why not everyone in Japan is happy to shoulder the public expense of Abe’s funeral.
Abe was a divisive political figure in Japan. His death, and his lavish funeral, have become a referendum on his administration. His critics have used the occasion to bring up scandals and controversial decisions during his tenure, from the granting of improper political favors to the mishandling of the early days of the pandemic.
The circumstances of his assassination have likewise shed light on his ties to the Unification Church. The fringe religious group, which Abe supported but was not a member of, is accused of shady entanglements with politicians, as well as of extracting large sums of cash from its followers, including the mother of Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who killed the former prime minister.
In a further sign of the backlash against Abe, Yamagami is being celebrated by some as an antihero, whose cause has resonated among disaffected Japanese youth. While Yamagami sits in jail, his uncle is receiving gifts from avid supporters on his behalf.
A funeral unlike others.
In Japan, state funerals are reserved for members of the Imperial Family. Only once, since World War II, has a leader been accorded this honour and that was in 1967. Shigeru Yoshida, who signed the San Francisco Treaty ending the US occupation of Japan and restoring ties with the Allies, had been given this honour then.
So, the fact that Abe was given a state funeral is a big deal. A part of the reason for Abe being afforded this honour is because of the way he died — he was gunned down at an election rally on 8 July. And Japan mourned for him. He had never been hugely popular, according to opinion polls, but few would deny that he brought the country stability and security, reports the BBC.
Abe’s state funeral at the Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo, dubbed as ‘funeral diplomacy’ by many witnessed 700 guests from 217 countries, including US vice-president Kamala Harris and Indian and Australian prime ministers Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese.
Apart from the world dignitaries, past and present leaders of Japan’s legislative, judicial and administrative branches were in attendance. Members of Japan’s parliament, local government representatives and community and business leaders were present — a number that is estimated to be around 4,000.
