Diksia.com - TOKYO, Yesterday, Saturday (07/08/2023), Japan marked a year since the assassination of former Prime Minister (PM) Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead by a man during his 2022 election speech.
The man was angry because he suspected Shinzo Abe had ties to the Unification Church in that country.
The death of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister was previously caught on video and shook a nation unused to gun violence.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other senior officials and members of the Japanese Parliament attended a private memorial service at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo along with Akie Abe, wife of the late Shinzo Abe.
Even after the service, people are allowed to lay flowers.
Quoted from Channel News Asia website on Sunday (07/09/2023): Among them is a citizen named Tsuu Ogawa, 49, who is a hotel employee.
He celebrated his birthday on the day Abe was murdered.
“I am shocked that such a terrible thing could happen in Japan and I pray it never happens again,” Ogawa said as he brought flowers to the shrine.
Abe is remembered for pursuing economic policies aimed at ending years of deflation.
These include aggressive monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and deregulation.
But observers say the measures are also opening up income gaps.
Abe, who resigned in 2020, also advocated aggressive defense policies that increase military spending.
He also reinterpreted Japan’s constitution, which opposed war, and allowed Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War II.
“I will support the politicians who carry out the work of the Abe government,” said a 35-year-old office worker, Atsuhiro Ueda, as he joined other supporters at the shrine.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kishida, while backing away from Abe’s economic agenda, appeared to be sticking to his predecessor’s restrictive policies.
Kishida announced last year that Japan would double its defense spending.
