TOKYO — A lavish, taxpayer-funded funeral for Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has triggered a public backlash against the ruling party he led for years.
Some opposition lawmakers are boycotting Tuesday's state funeral and a man set himself alight in an apparent protest against the US$12 million event, to be attended by foreign dignitaries including United States Vice President Kamala Harris and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Since then an investigation by the LDP has concluded that 179 of its 379 lawmakers had interacted with the church. But as evidence of links between the LDP and the Unification Church mounted and the estimated costs of the funeral rose, opinion shifted. Some 62 per cent of respondents in a recent poll by the Mainichi newspaper opposed the funeral, citing reasons such as Abe not being worthy of the honour and the high price tag.
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