Japan bids farewell to assassinated former 'premier' Shinzo Abe with a controversial state funeral

• Asia Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, is assassinated while giving a speech

• Japan This has been the murder of Shinzo Abe

At the Nippon Budokan, Muhammad Ali had his left leg shattered after taking 64 kicks from wrestler

.

It was a strange fight held in 1976 between the king of heavyweights and the champion in martial arts.

The tatami of the Budokan, which was erected for the 1964 Olympic Games, have also seen the Beatles,

.

Because not only fights has hosted the temple of judo in Tokyo, a stadium that this Tuesday has given shelter to a solemn act to dismiss one of the most relevant political figures in the modern history of Japan: former president Shinzo Abe, assassinated shot last July during a campaign event for the elections to the Upper House.

Representatives from more than 200 countries, past and present world leaders, plus a handful of international agency heads, were among the

of Japan's longest-serving prime minister.

From Washington they sent the vice president

, who has coincided in the act with other relevant figures on the global board such as the prime ministers of India and Australia,

, the president of the European Council,

or the secretary of Relations British Foreign,

.

, attended Tokyo on behalf of Spain

.

All of them wanted to pay their respects to the memory of a conservative politician with a career where the lights of his economic policies were always shaken by

of political funds and favors for his friends in the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD).

Everything that has surrounded Abe's funeral has been a reflection of the controversies that peppered his mandate and his murder.

Because the assassin of the former prime minister,

, said he attacked the politician with a homemade weapon because of his ties to the Unification Church, a powerful organization with strong ties to the ruling LDP.

Yamagami told the police that his mother, a member of the church, had donated large sums of money to the religious group, which plunged his family into poverty.

Abe had a close relationship with the church, as did 179 of the LDP's 379 MPs, an investigation after the former prime minister's death showed.

There has been much controversy in Japan over politicians' connections to an organization known for hosting mass weddings and now under public scrutiny for

that many cannot afford.

In the last three months, the uproar over the PLD's relationship with this church has not ceased, fueling the opposition of a divided society to Abe's state funeral.

.

A 70-year-old man even set himself on fire last week near the prime minister's office in protest.

Over the weekend, the Kyodo news agency published a poll that said 60.8% of Japanese people opposed the ceremony and

.

The expense for the event has been another of the great controversies that has further tensed the atmosphere in the midst of Japan's fight against the worst inflation in decades.

) have been paid from the public coffers

for the funeral.

Most of that money would have gone to the security device: 20,000 police deployed in Tokyo, especially around the Budokan stadium and the hotels where foreign dignitaries stay.

"

, launched an analysis of the local newspaper 'Japan Times' a few days ago.

The protesters who gathered in downtown Tokyo on Tuesday questioned, in addition to the decision to finance the event with taxpayers' money, the legal basis for organizing a state funeral that only has a precedent in 1967, with the death of

, the leader who led the country after the end of World War II.

The local press cited that the cost of Yoshida's funeral did not exceed 70 million yen, which at current exchange rates is just over 500,000 euros.

Despite the criticism and demonstrations against the ceremony, there was a line that left the Budokan compound of more than two kilometers with thousands of Japanese who, flowers in hand, wanted to pay their respects to the former minister by depositing them in a tribute tent that had been installed near the stadium.

Inside the Budokan, it was Akie, Abe's widow, who, dressed in a black kimono, carried the leader's ashes while 19 guns were fired outside.

As a note that the Japanese stand out in networks:

, and on behalf of the family he sent the crown prince Akishino.

Naruhito, however, was in London a few days ago for Elizabeth II's state funeral.

Abe was 52 years old in 2006 when he took office for his first term.

He was the youngest legislator to hold office.

A third-generation politician, he was targeted for various political scandals and resigned just a year later.

He returned to the helm of government in 2012, with Japan

and subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The current Japanese prime minister,

, defended that holding the state funeral meant "defending democracy".

Abe won a marathon of six national elections over seven years.

He seemed unbeatable on the political mat.

.

In August 2020 he announced his resignation due to his problems with ulcerative colitis.

A year later, he was assassinated.

He was 67 years old.

Kishida's decision to go ahead, despite criticism and protests, with the entire device for the funeral has also affected the current leader, whose popularity plummets in the polls.

The prime minister has always avoided entering into a public debate about the reasons for holding the funeral, and has not even been transparent about the legal issues or the cost of the event.

since important world leaders would meet in Tokyo, with whom the prime minister has held several bilateral meetings in recent hours.

Although that argument does not convince either the opposition in Parliament or many of its voters.

The latest Kyodo polls show that the support rate for Kishida's cabinet has fallen to around 40%, the lowest since he became prime minister.

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