Shinzo Abe funeral: Mourners line streets to bid farewell to Japan’s longest-serving prime minister

On Tuesday, Japan said farewell to Shinzo Abe, the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister, who was assassinated on last week.

Funeral processions for Abe, 67, started at Tokyo’s Zojoji Temple, where hundreds of mourners dressed in black gathered to pay their respects.

Following a funeral ceremony that included only family members and close friends, a hearse took Abe’s body through downtown Tokyo, the country’s capital.

The procession passed near the federal parliament building, where Abe was first elected in 1993. He later served as the parliamentary leader, or prime minister, twice, including a lengthy service from 2012 to 2020.

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Abe’s death shook the world as he was a titanic political figure and gun violence in Japan is rare.  

After the death was announced on Friday, President Joe Biden said he was “stunned, outraged and deeply saddened.”

“This is a tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him,” Biden said.

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“He was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people,” the president added.

Former President Donald Trump similarly said the death was “really bad news for the world.”

“His killer was captured and will hopefully be dealt with swiftly and harshly,” he wrote.

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“Few people know what a great man and leader Shinzo Abe was, but history will teach them and be kind,” Trump added. 

“He was a unifier like no other, but above all, he was a man who loved and cherished his magnificent country, Japan. Shinzo Abe will be greatly missed. There will never be another like him!”

Abe was killed during a campaign rally Friday when Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, shot him in broad daylight with a homemade firearm, officials said.