Farewell to Shinzo Abe and funeral ceremony to be held in Tokyo

KATHMANDU: Farewell to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who died in the attack on July 8, as well as a funeral ceremony will be held on Tuesday at the Buddhist temple Jojoji in Tokyo.

The attack on Shinzo Abe took place on July 8, when he was making a speech in the city of Nara as part of an election campaign ahead of elections to the upper house of parliament. 41-year-old Japanese Tetsuya Yamagami shot the ex-premier twice with a homemade weapon.

Abe was taken to the hospital in a rescue helicopter. Doctors gave him a blood transfusion and fought for his life for several hours, but they failed to save the former prime minister.

On Monday evening, there was a ceremony to commemorate the cui, sometimes referred to as the “night vigil.” Deputies, influential Japanese politicians, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, a number of foreign diplomats and many others came to pay tribute to the ex-premier.

About 2,500 people attended the ceremony, Kyodo reports citing Abe’s faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Hundreds of ordinary people of the country brought flowers to a specially equipped place on the territory of the temple.

The burial place of Shinzo Abe has not yet been named, but it is expected that it could be Yamaguchi Prefecture, which is native to him and his family. There, in the city of Nagato, is the grave of his father, former Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, who died, like his son, at 67 years old.