PM will attend state funeral of close friend Shinzo Abe next month

Next month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Japan just for a day to attend the state funeral of the former Japanese Prime Minister and his good friend Shinzo Abe. The funeral for the former leader is scheduled to take place on September 27.

Where will the state funeral be?

The funeral ceremony will be organized by the government of Japan in the capital city Tokyo at the Nippon Budokan arena in the Kitanomaru National Garden.

As broadcast by the local Kyodo news agency of Japan, during his one day visit PM Modi is likely to have a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on the sidelines.

Also Read: Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe assassinated; A look at his friendship with PM Modi, and Abenomics

The former Prime Minister Abe was shot dead while he was on a campaign trail for a parliamentary election in his country. Following his assassination, as a mark of respect, India had observed one state mourning on July 9, when the national flag was flown at half mast through the day.  

Bilateral Ties

India and Japan maintain close economic and diplomatic ties and the two countries are members of the QUAD which also includes the US, and Australia.

The ties between the two countries grew stronger when Abe was the PM and this continued even after he demitted office.

Earlier this year, when PM Modi was in Tokyo to attend the QUAD Leaders Summit, he had met Abe. Incidentally this was their first meeting in almost two years since Abe had stepped down as the leader of his country.

When PM Modi had gone for an annual summit to Tokyo in 2018, Financial Express Online had reported that PM Abe had invited him to his family home in the Yamanashi prefecture. This according to diplomatic sources was a move that indicated close and warm ties between the two leaders.

Following the sad demise of his friend, PM Modi wrote a heartfelt blog titled “My Friend, Abe San”.

Modi & Abe

Their friendship goes back to the days when PM Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. Both shared close ties and Abe as the leader of Japan had called Modi his dependable friend. The relations between the two countries not only deepened but it was elevated to global and strategic partnership.

He was the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in 2014.

Abenomics

As PM of his country Abe had played a major role in further strengthening in the area of foreign policy and defence. And he also tried to amend Japan’s pacifist post-war constitution.  The reforms he was pushing for came to be known as Abenomics.