The Japanese government said on Tuesday that it will allocate an additional 1.4 billion yen (US$9.97 million) for the state funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to cover costs for security and welcome foreign dignitaries, bringing the total price tag to over 1.6 billion yen (US$11.3 million).
With opposition to the slain former leader’s state funeral growing, given his divisive political stances and various scandals, the vastly larger outlays that draw on taxpayers’ money may trigger a strong backlash from the public, observers said.
Late last month, the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it would spend 249 million yen (US$1.7 million) on the September 27 funeral for Abe, who a lone gunman fatally shot during an election campaign speech in early July.
Kishida said at the time that the total cost would be publicised after the funeral as it would vary depending on the number of foreign guests joining the event, but the government apparently felt forced to announce the figure in advance in consideration of intense public debate over the event.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference Tuesday that 800 million yen (US$5.6 million) will be used for security and 600 million (US$4.2 million) for arrangements to welcome foreign dignitaries expected to travel to Tokyo from around 50 countries.
Jun Azumi, Diet affairs chief of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticised the government, telling reporters that the funeral costs have “swelled” by more than six times the originally stated figure.
Kishida has said he is ready to appear in parliamentary sessions slated to be held later this week to explain holding only the second state funeral for a former prime minister in post-war Japan.
Earlier this month, a Tokyo-based company successfully bid to organise the funeral. The company had been involved in much-criticised cherry blossom viewing parties that Abe hosted while he was premier.
Amid scepticism that the Kishida Cabinet may have given preferential treatment to the firm in the selection process, Matsuno said Monday that the company was the only bidder, making its selection automatic
On Tuesday, the government also unveiled the schedule of the state funeral. Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Abe’s immediate successor, will make a speech on behalf of Abe’s friends, in addition to the heads of all three branches of government.
The Self-Defence Forces will fire a funeral salute on the day, but Kishida has pledged not to press individual citizens to make a public display of mourning for Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.
Abe, who died at 67, was prime minister for around one year from 2006 and from 2012 to 2020. Suga served as Abe’s right-hand man for nearly eight years as chief Cabinet secretary before taking the reins from him in September 2020.