Japan held a controversial state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with his widow Aki carrying his ashes into a hall in Tokyo where thousands of mourners gathered.
Dressed in a black kimono, Aki carried the ashes in a box covered with an ornate cloth to Budokan on Tuesday in a 19-gun salute in honor of the slain former prime minister, according to international media.
Thousands of Japanese laid flowers and prayed in Abe’s honor before the state funeral, which was attended by hundreds of foreign dignitaries.
Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister and one of the country’s most recognizable political figures, known for promoting international unity and his “Abenomics” economic strategy.
He resigned in 2020 over recurring health problems, but remained a prominent political voice and campaigning for his ruling party when he was assassinated by a gunman on July 8.
The shooting sent shockwaves through a country with notorious gun crime and drew international condemnation.
But the decision to hold a state funeral for a former prime minister, only the second in the post-war era, has sparked opposition, with nearly 60 percent of Japanese voting against the event in a recent poll.
