Photo/Illutration Kenta Izumi, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, on Sept. 27 (Tamiyuki Kihara)

Some opposition party leaders skipped the Sept. 27 state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and those who did attend raised questions about the decision-making process for the event.

“Once again, I extend my condolences for the former prime minister who was gunned down,” Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Kenta Izumi, one of nine CDP executives who did not attend the funeral, told reporters on Sept. 27.

Izumi said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida still has not sufficiently explained issues surrounding the state funeral, such as why taxpayers are footing the bill and the lack of a legal basis for the event.

He said Kishida’s decision has brought “division and backlash.”

“It was not the right way to send off the former prime minister,” Izumi said.

The central government estimated the cost of Abe’s funeral was about 1.66 billion yen ($11.5 million).

Izumi suggested that funerals for former prime ministers should be hosted by the Cabinet instead.

Kazuo Shii, head of the Japanese Communist Party, missed the funeral and instead joined a rally near the main entrance of the Diet building to protest the event.

Shii told reporters that the Kishida administration forced through an “unconstitutional” state funeral that “violates equality under the law and freedom of conscience.”

“I cannot, at any cost, allow the issue to become obscure,” Shii said.

Mizuho Fukushima, who heads the Social Democratic Party, criticized Kishida for “authorizing and justifying Abe with taxpayers’ money.”

Nobuyuki Baba, head of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), said at a news conference after attending the funeral: “I realized Abe was a great politician. It was good that the state funeral was held.”

But he said the process on deciding to hold the state funeral had glaring holes, and the public was not convinced about the need for the event.

Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the Democratic Party for the People, who also attended the funeral, said the Diet should discuss standards and procedures for state funerals “in order to avoid confusion.”

Opposition parties are expected to pursue the topic at an extraordinary Diet session that will open on Oct. 3.

State funerals are normally held for members of the imperial family.

A legal decree on holding state funerals for former prime ministers became null and void when the postwar Constitution took effect.

(This article was written by Tamiyuki Kihara, Shohei Sasagawa and Mari Fujisaki.)

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