By TAKASHI NARAZAKI/ Staff Writer
July 12, 2022 at 19:03 JST
Crowds lined the streets in Tokyo on July 12 to pay their respects to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was mourned by his family and others at his funeral at Zojoji temple in the capital's Minato Ward.
The funeral was attended by Abe’s family members as well as those close to him, with Abe’s wife, Akie, acting as a chief mourner.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, his predecessor and Abe's successor, Yoshihide Suga, and Taro Aso, the vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, were among the attendees.
After the funeral, a hearse carrying Abe's body left the temple at around 2:30 p.m.
The car passed the headquarters of the LDP, the party he led for many years, and the Diet building, both in Nagatacho in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward--Japan’s political center where Abe spent most of his long career.
Many officials and Diet members from around the political spectrum watched the hearse passing the Diet building in a final goodbye to their fallen former leader.
The vehicle also entered the premises of the prime minister’s office, where Kishida gave Abe a send-off.
A large crowd of people, including lawmakers, lined the streets of Tokyo to say a final farewell as the hearse passed. The vehicle then headed to a crematorium in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward.
Around 2,500 people, including lawmakers, ambassadors, business people and cultural figures, attended Abe’s wake on July 11.
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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, accompanied by Cabinet members and officials, puts his hands together in prayer toward the direction of the hearse carrying the body of Shinzo Abe at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on July 12 following Abe’s funeral. (Koichi Ueda)
