Photo/Illutration Representatives of groups and one individual speak at a joint news conference on Sept. 5 before submitting petitions to the government demanding the cancellation of the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Takayuki Kakuno)

Petitions signed by 404,258 people demanding the cancellation of the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were submitted to the Cabinet Office on Sept. 5.

The signatures were collected by three groups and one individual.

“The voices against the state funeral are growing louder day by day,” a member of a citizens group said before the petitions were submitted.

One of the groups comprises 17 people, including Chizuko Ueno, professor emerita at the University of Tokyo, Takeshi Nakajima, professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, journalist Satoshi Kamata, and critic Makoto Sataka.

“We received many encouraging comments,” Ueno said at a news conference in the Lower House members’ office building in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district on Sept. 5. “One said that the voices of fury were finally heard thanks to the petition.”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided to hold the Sept. 27 state funeral for Abe, who was gunned down on July 8 while giving a campaign speech in Nara.

Opposition to the taxpayer-funded event has risen, and Kishida’s decision has been criticized as an attempt to appease Abe’s allies in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

“(Abe’s) sudden death is no excuse for misgovernment,” Ueno said. “We oppose the state funeral, which has divided people’s opinion and stirred up conflicting emotions.”

Excluding duplicates, 280,000 signatures were collected on Change.org., an online petition site, from July to August.

The number of signatures increased drastically after protests and rallies against the state funeral spread nationwide, according to a group called “Senso Sasenai, 9-jo Kowasuna! Sougakari Kodo Jikko Iinkai” (We will not let war occur. Don’t destroy Article 9! The committee for all-out actions).

This group served as the secretariat for the signature-collecting campaigns. 

Another signature-collecting group was Jiyuhosodan, the Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom.

Kamata said general petition campaigns usually need half a year to collect 1 million signatures.

“The fact that 400,000 signatures were collected in such a short period of time proves the strong dissatisfaction of the people,” he said. “It also shows that people in Japan share a democratic sense that forceful, hasty politics should not be allowed.”

Related News