Japan's Govt. To Review Cost And Handling Of Abe's State Funeral
The state funeral for former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is over. The government now plans to review the way it handled the event, as the ceremony drew both mourners and protesters.
About 4,200 guests from Japan and abroad attended the funeral at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan on Tuesday.
Near the venue, members of the public waited in long lines to place flowers for the former prime minister. The period during which people were permitted to lay flowers was extended by three hours, as so many individuals had lined up.
Meanwhile, people opposed to the state funeral held rallies and protest marches across Japan. Organizers of a rally near the Diet building in Tokyo said about 15,000 people took part.
The government is mindful of the division in public opinion. It plans to review the way the decision was made to hold the state funeral and how the event was organized.
The government also plans to establish the number of participants and other things and release how much the ceremony actually cost. It had previously estimated that the event would cost around 1.6 billion yen, or about 11 million dollars.
An extraordinary session of the Diet will start next month. A debate about the state funeral is expected to be held during the session. Members of both the governing and opposition camps say guidelines for state funerals need to be established.