Government Eyeing Up To 6,400 Mourners At Abe's State Funeral
The Japanese government will soon formally approve costs for the state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in late September.
Abe was fatally shot in Nara City, western Japan, on July 8 while making a campaign speech for a candidate in the Upper House election.
The government announced plans to hold the ceremony at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on September 27.
The government set up a secretariat for the funeral comprising senior officials of relevant ministries and agencies to calculate the number of mourners, including foreign dignitaries, who are expected to attend.
Sources told NHK that the government has launched preparations under the scenario that up to 6,400 people will be formally invited to take part in the ceremony. The figure will be finalized by early September.
Should that figure prove accurate, participants will outnumber those who attended the state funeral of former Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru.
Over 6,200 people bid farewell to Yoshida at the ceremony also held at Nippon Budokan 55 years ago.
The government is to also speed up discussions on security procedures and anti-coronavirus measures.
All the expenses for the funeral will be paid from state coffers.
For the funeral of former Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro, held jointly by the Cabinet and the Liberal Democratic Party in 2020, the state shouldered some 1.4 million dollars, or about half the cost.
The government is to use this figure as a yardstick to determine the overall expenses for the funeral.