Who will attend Abe’s funeral?

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Source: wechat official account: Bu Yidao has been authorized to reprint

Write / Hu Yidao & Display menu

On July 12, Japan will hold a funeral for the assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

However, from various signs, this is no longer an ordinary funeral.

Some people want to further strengthen their alliance with Japan by attending Abe’s funeral.

Some people want to achieve their dark goals and show “international presence” by attending Abe’s funeral.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, on the other hand, has highlighted the need to “amend the constitution” as Shinzo Abe’s “unfinished business” and “will” after the Senate election. After the “constitutional amendment forces” in the Senate occupy an overall advantage of more than two-thirds of the seats, it has become increasingly possible to amend the “peaceful constitution”.

Will Japan break through the post World War II international order through Abe’s death?

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Judging from the funeral process of Japanese politicians in the past, it basically followed the Buddhist rules. The funeral sites were mostly Buddhist temples and public auditoriums, and the cemeteries were also mainly family cemeteries or public cemeteries of Buddhist temples.

The main steps are divided into:

Coffin – the coffin is put in by the embalmer after finishing his appearance;

All night – a vigil attended by relatives and friends the night before the funeral. Usually, eminent monks chant sutras and relatives and friends burn incense. Non relatives and friends will be arranged to attend all night because of daily arrangements or funerals only for family members.

Funeral and farewell ceremony – the funeral will be held in the morning after the end of the whole night, and the ceremony will be carried out with different religious beliefs. After the ceremony, the body farewell ceremony was held, flowers were presented and the dead were finally bid farewell.

Out of coffin: after the above ceremony, move the coffin of the deceased to the crematorium.

After the cremation of the dead, the funeral owner thanked the monks and visitors. Within 49 days after that, Na Gu was placed and finally buried in religious rites.

According to Japanese media reports, Abe’s body left his former residence and was transported to zengshang temple at 2:30 p.m. on the 11th under the protection of his wife Akie Abe. The Liberal Democratic Party and Fumio Kishida seemed to have proposed a state funeral for Abe before, but Akie Abe declined. According to the family funeral specifications, an all night ceremony will be held in zengshang temple on the evening of the 11th. The funeral Lord is Akie Abe.

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Fumio Kishida has attended the all night ceremony, and important members of the Liberal Democratic Party may attend one after another. As participation was limited to relatives and friends of Abe Jin San before his birth, a flower display platform was set up for general mourners outside the scene.

Shinzo Abe’s farewell ceremony will be held in Tokyo and Shinzo Abe’s hometown Yamaguchi Prefecture. Important figures in Japanese politics and social elites will attend or send agents to offer condolences. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suddenly changed his diplomatic itinerary and made a “special visit” to Tokyo to attend the farewell ceremony of Shinzo Abe’s body.

On the afternoon of the 11th, the security around zengshang temple was tight, the roads had been blocked, and media personnel and non participants were required to prohibit taking photos.

In Japan, the state funeral is a ceremony set up before the war, and relevant regulations have been abolished after the war. After the war, only former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and Emperor Showa have enjoyed state funeral treatment. There is not much discussion on whether Abe should be granted a state funeral in mainstream public opinion in Japan, but netizens have serious opposition to this issue.

The failure to realize state funeral may be mainly due to the following reasons:

First of all, the choice of the funeral ceremony is mainly decided by the families of the deceased, and there is no subjective and objective motivation to arrange a state funeral for Shinzo Abe. On the one hand, Mr. and Mrs. Abe are childless, and their assassination is a sudden accident, which still needs to be sorted out emotionally.

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On the other hand, before Abe’s death, there were negative voices of Mrs. Abe’s extravagance and arrogance relying on Abe’s power in society. The problems of the “Cherry Blossom Festival” and “senyou school”, which once endangered Abe’s administration, were considered to be directly related to Abe Zhaohui. Therefore, Akie Abe, as the owner of the funeral, will give people a negative impression of using the topic to meet their personal desires if he chooses the state funeral.

Secondly, Japanese people’s evaluation of Shinzo Abe is also polarized, and the state funeral lacks the soil of public opinion. As Japan’s longest serving prime minister after the war, Shinzo Abe proposed “abenomics” during his tenure, promoted the passage of relevant bills on the right to collective self-defense, and actively promoted the revision of Japan’s peace constitution. Japanese right-wing and far right-wing figures, as well as some upper levels of political and business circles, as vested interests, have given high praise, and the voices advocating state burial are mainly issued by this group of people.

Under the influence of “abenomics”, the broad masses of the people who have stagnated or even regressed in their work and life, the forces of the opposition parties, leftists, peace loving intellectuals, and the upper middle class of politics and business circles, do not have a high evaluation of Shinzo Abe, which is also the main force against the burial of Shinzo Abe.

The opinions of the above two groups are tit for tat, reflecting the rift in Japanese society under the influence of Shinzo Abe’s administration. If Shinzo Abe is buried in the Three Kingdoms, this rift may have a tendency to expand.

Finally, the Japanese government is actually not positive about state funeral.

On the one hand, as the current COVID-19 is still raging around the world, if a state funeral is arranged, it is bound to need to contact important political and business figures from all over the world to gather in Tokyo. Whether there are significant VIP visits to Japan under the epidemic is unknown, and the epidemic prevention, security, accommodation and reception during the state funeral are also not small challenges for the Japanese government.

On the other hand, as an important activity in international exchanges, state funeral also has an important impact on the future direction of Japan’s internal affairs and diplomacy. At present, less than a year after taking office, Fumio Kishida has won the general election of the house of Representatives and the Senate. His domestic political power is stable, and he does not need to establish his political prestige through international exchanges. Erasing Abe’s “brand” is more in line with the political interests of Fumio Kishida’s long-term governance.

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Antony Blinken suddenly changed his diplomatic itinerary, made a “special visit” to Tokyo, and attended Shinzo Abe’s funeral, which showed “special attention”. In the words of the United States, it is to express condolences to the Japanese government and people, reflecting “friends share difficulties”.

U.S. media said that Antony Blinken went to Tokyo on the 11th to express condolences on the assassination of Shinzo Abe, a close ally of the United States and former Japanese Prime Minister.

The State Department official said, “Antony Blinken, who is visiting Asia, temporarily arranged this trip to Tokyo. After his arrival, he went to the U.S. Embassy in Japan and took the consular staff to pay a moment of silence to Abe.”. Antony Blinken also met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and delivered a letter from US President Biden to Abe’s relatives.

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Antony Blinken said that Abe’s tenure as Prime Minister pushed the U.S. – Japan alliance to a new height, but Abe and Japan are far more than just strong political allies of the United States. US media said that “Abe has always supported the establishment of strong national defense and political relations with the United States during his tenure”.

Antony Blinken said meaningfully, “I came here at the president’s command, mainly because we are friends who surpass the allies. When friends are in trouble, other friends will come to help. We try to help reduce the burden of friends, share the sense of loss, and lean our shoulders over (express sympathy). This is what we try to do.”

In addition, former US President trump and former Secretary of state Pompeo both said that Abe was a “true friend” and “dear friend.” American scholars also called Abe “the father of the US Japan India Australia quadripartite dialogue mechanism”.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during his meeting with Antony Blinken, “we are willing to inherit the will of former Prime Minister Abe and further strengthen the Japan US alliance.” This is clearly what the United States wants to hear.

It is worth noting that Taiwan media reported on the 11th that Lai Qingde, vice governor of Taiwan Province, left for Japan as a “special envoy” for Caizi on the morning of the 11th. Taiwan media also claimed that this was “the highest level envoy to Japan in the past 50 years after Taiwan and Japan severed diplomatic ties in 1972”.

However, Japan’s NHK television also reported that Lai Qingde went to Japan, but stressed that he was in a “private identity”. According to Japanese media reports, Lai Qingde arrived in Japan and entered Abe’s home.

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Lai Qingde had previously mourned Abe on Facebook, claiming that “it is particularly sad to think of the friendship between Abe and Taiwan in the past. What we have lost today is a good friend who loves and supports Taiwan”.

When Shinzo Abe was Prime Minister of Japan, he somewhat covered up his true thoughts on the Taiwan issue. After he left office, some attitudes were really exposed, which was the root of his provocative remarks on Taiwan related issues.

Japan’s “representative in Taiwan” Quan Yutai also revealed on the 11th that he paid a visit to then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before being “stationed in Taiwan”. At that time, Abe specially reminded him that “Japan and Taiwan have a special historical relationship, and when acting, it is particularly necessary to consider the feelings and feelings of Taiwan people, so as not to make them feel lonely”.

Quan Yutai also described that “Abe is like a ‘general backstage’ that encourages and promotes Japan Taiwan Relations”.

Obviously, the three words “general backstage” also explain who has pushed Japan to play a “marginal ball” in its relations with Taiwan in recent years.

As for Abe’s funeral, Japan is more concerned about the “constitutional amendment forces” such as the Liberal Democratic Party, which are active in the discussion of amending the constitution through the “assassination incident”, and the number of seats in the Senate election is determined to be 95, with a total of 179 seats added to the non re-election.

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This figure exceeds the 166 seats required by two-thirds of all members of Congress to propose constitutional amendments. Kishida aims to explicitly write the self defense force into Article 9 of the Constitution and the new emergency provisions, and intends to speed up the discussion of formulating a specific plan for the “proposed amendment to the constitution”.

However, even among the constitutional amendment forces, there are obvious differences in attitude between the Komeito party and the Liberal Democratic Party.

Kishida said in a TV program on the 10th that he would focus on four items of the Liberal Democratic Party’s draft constitutional amendment, including the inclusion of the self defense force in Article 9 of the constitution, to promote parliamentary discussion. He declared that “we will challenge huge issues with courage.” Regarding the inclusion of the self defense force in Article 9, the Reform Commission and the Liberal Democratic Party have the same attitude.

The Komeito party, which is jointly in power with the Liberal Democratic Party, proposed “constitutional amendment”. The leader of the party Yamaguchi Najin Nan stressed in the TV program, “there is no need to change the first and second paragraphs of Article 9. It is an important provision for defining the right to self-defense.” With regard to the self defense forces, he said that “the majority of the people are recognized, which is not the case that they cannot work without amending the constitution”.

Reuters said that this Senate election has further consolidated the power of the Liberal Democratic Party, made Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida obtain a “golden three years” of stable governance, and may achieve Abe’s unfinished goal: constitutional amendment.

The United States is also worried about the impact of Japan’s constitutional amendment. Some commentators believe that, on the one hand, the United States hopes that the Japanese self defense forces will break through the constitutional restrictions and participate in the overseas military operations of the United States, so that the U.S. military can save military expenditure and enhance the efficiency of military operations. On the other hand, the United States is wary of Japan’s constitutional amendment. It is worried that Japan will break away from the control of the United States and pose a threat to the United States after it gets rid of the peaceful constitution.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on the 11th that China is willing to work with Japan to continue to develop good neighborly, friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries in accordance with the principles established in the four political documents between China and Japan. Due to historical reasons, the issue of Japan’s constitutional amendment has received great attention from the international community and its Asian neighbors. We hope that Japan will seriously learn historical lessons, adhere to the path of peaceful development, and win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community with practical actions.

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Article 9 of the current constitution of Japan clearly stipulates that: Japanese citizens sincerely hope for international peace based on justice and order, and will never give up wars launched by national sovereignty and the threat or exercise of force as a means of settling international disputes; In order to achieve the former project, the land, sea, air force and other combat capabilities will not be retained. Do not recognize the belligerent right of the country.

This clause made the 1947 constitution of Japan known as the “constitution of peace”, but Reuters reported that because the law was formulated by Americans, it was regarded as a disgrace imposed by the United States by the Japanese conservative party. Therefore, Japan, especially some conservative forces, are constantly committed to amending the constitution, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan is a typical example.

Since its establishment in 1955, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan has always advocated amending the constitution, but all of them have failed. In 2012, Shinzo Abe pushed for the amendment of the constitution after coming to power, saying that he would write the self defense force into the constitution, but he failed to do so. But now, the Liberal Democratic Party is getting closer and closer to the constitutional amendment.

It should also be noted that the attitude of the Japanese people towards the constitutional amendment has changed.

Previously, the Japanese people were opposed to the constitutional amendment. In 2019, Shinzo Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party promoted the amendment of the constitution, trying to establish the status of Japan’s self defense force in the constitution, but the public opinion survey results at that time showed that nearly 60% of Japanese opposed the amendment of the Constitution during Shinzo Abe’s administration.

However, since then, the number of people supporting the constitutional amendment has increased.

According to a survey conducted by Asahi Shimbun in 2021, the proportion of Japanese people who support and oppose the constitutional amendment is almost the same – 45% support the constitutional amendment, up from 43% in the 2020 survey; 44% said there was no need to modify it, down from 46% in 2020.

In 2022, more Japanese people want to amend the constitution. In early May this year, a poll launched by Yomiuri Shimbun showed that 60% of the people supported the amendment of the constitution.

In this context, we should be vigilant against the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party’s “strike while the iron is hot” and realize the revision of the peace constitution.

A senior expert on Japan said that there was indeed a special variable in the result of this election, that is, the assassination of Abe.

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Originally, the current situation is that Japan’s economy is depressed, prices are rising, and the epidemic has not been effectively controlled. These are unfavorable election conditions, but Abe’s event will change the election results, and the Liberal Democratic Party will win a big victory, including the forces of the opposition parties advocating constitutional amendment, which add up to more than 2/3.

Now, the matter of amending the Constitution can be fully discussed in the next three years, because the Senate election will be held three years later, and this pattern will determine that Kishida or the Liberal Democratic Party will stabilize their ruling position in the next three years.

However, the expert believes that constitutional amendment after winning the election may not be the first choice for Kishida. From his speech, he first emphasized that the economy should recover, deal with the international situation in Ukraine, deal with the COVID-19, consider price rises, and promote economic recovery in the medium and long term.

Kishida did not propose to amend the Constitution during his term of office as Abe did.

Secondly, the faction of Kishida itself is Hongchi society, and the predecessor is former Prime Minister Miyazawa Xiyi. This is a relatively well-known constitutional protectionist and moderate within the Liberal Democratic Party. Kishida himself followed the former leader of the faction and has been cautious about Amending the constitution. He was also cautious when he was Foreign Minister Abe.

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Now, the impact of Abe’s radical constitutional amendment is gone. From another perspective, the election result shows that Kishida’s independent decision-making ability has been enhanced. Without Abe, the pace of constitutional amendment may not be so fast.

On the 11th, Kishida held a press conference at the party headquarters in view of the great victory in the Senate election. Kishida said that with regard to the constitutional amendment proposed by the Congress, “efforts will be made to advance to the proposal as soon as possible”. He also believed that the election results reflected the “public opinion” towards constitutional amendment, and expressed his determination to lead the discussion in Congress as the president of the party.

In view of the deterioration of the security environment, Kishida once again pointed out that “the defense force will be fundamentally strengthened within five years”.

Kishida looked forward to the more active discussion of the Constitution in the Congress, and said that “in the process of promoting the discussion in the Congress, he hopes to gather two-thirds of the forces (required for the proposal) on the specific content”. Referring to Abe’s death, he said that “we will inherit (Abe’s) ideas and commit ourselves to amending the Constitution and other difficult problems that cannot be realized by ourselves”.

Therefore, the expert believes that considering the ruling status and stability, Kishida will definitely say that in the future, the opinions of the people will be fully listened to on the issue of constitutional amendment, and it is possible to inherit Abe’s wishes to promote constitutional amendment, but it will be fully discussed among the people, so the time will be prolonged.

After all, once the constitution is amended, the internal and external reactions will be very huge. Kishida and the Liberal Democratic Party may use their time to make some articles.

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