Shinzo Abe's Funeral: Crowds Gather to Say Goodbye to Former Prime Minister After Assassination
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Shinzo Abe has been laid to rest.
Late Monday evening into Tuesday morning, thousands of mourners paid their respects, laid flowers and lined Tokyo streets as the former Japanese prime minister's funeral at Zojoji temple took place, ABC News reported.
The country's longest-serving leader, 67, was assassinated on July 8, dying after sustaining gunshot wounds during a campaign speech in Nara, Japan.
According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Tokyo, Abe was shot in the right side of his neck at around 11:30 a.m. local time while speaking at a campaign rally ahead of Japan's Upper House elections, Japan's public media organization NHK, reported.
He then collapsed and was immediately rushed to Nara Medical University for treatment, but later died, the outlet said.
Family members, along with Japanese dignitaries including current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, were in attendance at the private Buddhist service Tuesday morning, according to multiple outlets.
"I have lost my brother. But at the same time, Japan has lost an irreplaceable leader," Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe's brother, said in a statement which ABC News obtained, calling the assassination an "act of terrorism."
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RELATED: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Assassinated While Giving Campaign Speech
Japan has one of the lowest rates of gun deaths in the world, according to Business Insider.
A hearse carrying Abe's remains brought him one last time past the parliament, where he'd served as a lawmaker, and then his old headquarters, the prime minister's official residence, CBS News reported.
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Along the street, mourners paid their respects to Abe, with some comparing the former leader's death to that of another assassination that had a global impact.
Onlooker Yutaka Takeda told ABC News that the shock he felt after hearing the news was similar to what he felt when he heard of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
"Almost everyone here in Japan is experiencing deep sorrow," Yutaka told the news outlet.
And dignitaries around the world have expressed sadness at his passing too, including President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, former President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth and Prince William.
On Friday, President Biden announced the flag of the United States would be flown at half-staff for two days.
"The longest serving Prime Minister in Japan's history, Abe Shinzo was a proud servant of the Japanese people and a faithful friend to the United States," Biden stated in the proclamation. "He worked with American Presidents of both parties to deepen the Alliance between our nations and advance a common vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific."
Political analysts and Japanese citizens alike hold the late leader, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020, in high regard for his leadership.
Abe stepped down from his prime minister post in 2020 due to his health, just four days after he set a record for the longest-running Japanese prime minister, as reported by The New York Times.
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"He's the most towering political figure in Japan over the past couple of decades," Dave Leheny, a political scientist at Waseda University in Tokyo, told the Associated Press. "He wanted Japan to be respected on the global stage in the way that he felt was deserved. ... He also wanted Japan to not have to keep apologizing for World War II."
"Mr. Abe is one of the greatest prime ministers in Japan's history. A lot of people look up to him. We are so sad that we lost him," Shinki Kitaoka, who stood in a crowd in front of the Zojoji temple to commemorate Abe, told ABC News.
