Funeral of Shinzo Abe and 20,000 security: Kishida’s vanity and Moonies
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida adores his foreign trips and meeting dignitaries at home and abroad. Hence, the State Funeral of Shinzo Abe sums up the vanity of Kishida. After all, he neither consulted internally to any great extent within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – nor sought the consent of mainstream political parties concerning the controversial State Funeral.
Ironically, Kishida decided – with security officials – to employ 20,000 police officers to protect the State Funeral and international dignitaries who attended. A far cry from the murder of the former leader of Japan – because on the fatal day of his assassination, Abe barely had any security.
Thus, the sight of seeing police divers along with the entire rigmarole of the security apparatus – given the death of Abe – looked farcical and over the top.
In truth, the day was more about the “ego” of Kishida. After all, he can’t connect with ordinary people. However, Kishida loves to meet foreign dignitaries and famous business leaders.
Astonishingly – given the divisive nature of the State Funeral – it appears that Kishida allocated more money than was spent on Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral in the United Kingdom. If so, it once more shows the arrogance of Kishida and the ruling LDP.
The BBC reports, “Even though the actual amount of money spent on the Queen’s state funeral has not been disclosed, the Flash article cited the Daily Mirror’s reported figure of £8m or 1.3bn yen to compare it to the estimated cost of ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe’s funeral of 1.66bn yen.”
Emotionally, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral generated strong emotions from vast numbers of people in the United Kingdom – and many countries throughout the world. Of course, tens of millions of nationals in the United Kingdom are not monarchists: so sentiments will have varied. However, on the whole, the nation was in grief – given the longevity of her reign and her popularity.
Kyodo News reports, “With the funeral splitting public opinion, some opposition parties boycotted the service. But Yoshihiko Noda, an opposition lawmaker who was Abe’s immediate predecessor in his second term as prime minister, joined the state funeral.”
Reuters reports, “Abe’s killing at a July 8 campaign rally set off a flood of revelations about ties between lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) he once ran and the Unification Church, which critics call a cult, sparking a backlash against current premier Fumio Kishida.”
One year before the brutal murder of Abe, the Japan Press Weekly called into question Abe’s moral responsibility. Japan Press Weekly (Sep 2021) reports, “… former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo gave a praising message in a rally hosted online by an organization affiliated with the former Unification Church or so-called Moonies, notorious for its “spiritual sales” of costly goods and “group weddings” which have long been a social issue in Japan… The organization will likely use Abe’s appearance in the event to recruit new believers and advertise their products, leading to the creation of new victims. Abe’s moral responsibility should be called into question.”
Astonishingly, Kishida’s new Cabinet – along with parliamentary vice ministers and vice ministers – is full of individuals connected to the Moonies. Hence, of 20 out of 54 lawmakers assigned to these positions, it is known that 20 members have various types of ties to the Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – Moonies). Therefore, Kishida’s popularity is suffering over links between the LDP and the Moonies.
Abe’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi – and his father Shintaro – were known to have ties with the Unification Church. For Kishi, this relates to his anti-Communist mindset. Therefore, the killer of Abe blamed the long-lasting relationship between the Abe family and the Moonies.
Tetsuya Yamagami, said, Kishi “Invited the church (to Japan from South Korea). So I killed (his grandson) Abe.”
The State Funeral is more about the ego of Kishida and how he turns a blind eye to discontent – similar to his coronavirus policies that led to more deaths than under the two former prime ministers of Japan. Therefore, enormous taxes have been spent on an event that merely divides the people of Japan – while the Moonies cult with the LDP continues.
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