Members of the Japanese Imperial Family have made an appearance in Tokyo at the State Funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the 27th of September.
While Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako were not present, they were represented by Crown Prince Akishino, Crown Princess Kiko, Princess Kako and Princess Nobuko, among many others.
They were joined by more than 400 foreign authorities, which included US Vice President Kamala Harris, EU Council President Charles Michel, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and former French President Nicholas Sarkozy.
The ceremony was held at the Nippon Budokan Hall in the presence of more than 4000 guests, from relatives to members of the Japanese society, some of which were also selected to give speeches.
But the two main speakers of the day were current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who said, “I will forever remember you fondly as a man of wholehearted sincerity and exquisite compassion who took the utmost care of his friends, and as a husband who loved his wife Akie profoundly,” and his widow, Akie Abe, who was seen shedding a few tears throughout the ceremony.
She brought in the urn containing the late Prime Minister’s ashes, wrapped in a purple and gold cloth, at the beginning of the ceremony.
The Crown Prince led all members of the Imperial Family in paying their respects to Mr Abe; they bowed their heads in front of the urn, and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess also laid small bouquets of white flowers on the shrine.
Dressed in sober black outfits, the imperial ladies also wore pearl jewellery; a shared symbol of mourning with the West, in Japan pearls represent “hope for a broken heart,” and wearing them when attending a funeral is seen as a message of sympathy for the people closest to the departed.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated during a political rally on the 8th of July; he was campaigning for a member of his own party. The gunman told police that he killed him because of his involvement with the Unification Church, which his grandfather, former PM Nobusuke Kishi, helped establish in Japan. The gunman held personal resentment against the church because his mum gifted all of their possessions and her money to the church, leaving them with nothing, according to the statement he gave to police.
The late prime minister was cremated during a private ceremony that took place on the 12th of July at the Zōjō-ji Buddhist Temple, just two days after the candidate he was campaigning for was successful in securing his seat in the House of Councillors.
Mr Abe was the longest-serving Prime Minister in Japanese history, but his work was not without controversy. This was reflected in the protests that accompanied the entire State Funeral ceremony by people who accused him of violating Japan’s pacifist principles and that criticised the Kishida government for the high costs of the ceremony.
