No Conclusion on State Funeral

One year after the controversial state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan can still not conclude the discussion about who deserves a state funeral. Although Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a year ago that he would seek setting a rule for having a state funeral, he has not shown any positive attitude on this issue. This ambiguity represents the nature of the administration which is standing on a delicate balance between the moderate and radical conservatives.

Receiving requests from the conservative groups in Liberal Democratic Party, Kishida revealed his intention to have a state funeral for Abe only six days after the assassination last year. On the other hand, he ignored the requests from the opposition parties which demanded the discussion in the Diet before the decision. Kishida made a cabinet decision to have the state funeral for Abe a week later.

 

Under current constitution, state funeral has been held only for former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida in 1967. The funerals for deceased prime minister have ordinarily been held co-sponsored by the cabinet and LDP. That was because there has been a discussion whether appropriating financial resource for the funeral would be correct or not. In the case of Abe’s, the conservative groups were hoping to symbolize Abe as a distinguished leader by taking a form of national commemoration.

 

Kishida could decide to have a state funeral because no law determined what it was and restricted prime minister’s decision. Kishida raised some reasons because Abe stayed as the prime minister for the longest term with 8 years and 8 months, made great achievements including reconstruction from East Japan Great Earthquake, or else. The state funeral for Abe was held at Nippon Budokan on September 27th, 2022, with expense of ¥1.1 billion paid from the reserve fund of Cabinet Office. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Police Agency also contributed for accepting foreign guests and enhancing security.

 

“No money shall be expended, nor shall the State obligate itself, except as authorized by the Diet,” says Article 85 of the Constitution of Japan. The Diet did not approve any expense for the funeral for Abe at all. It was natural for not only the opposition parties but the public to raise an argument whether the decision of Kishida without any consultation to the Diet was appropriate or not.

 

According to the result of discussion by the experts publicized by the government last December, evaluations on whether state funeral needs legal basis were divided. One approved a state funeral as commemorating a national leader, and another concerned about the division of the nations. Expense of governmental money invited sharp opposition among the experts. One thing they agreed on was that the government did not require the people to show condolences.

 

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno announced in July that every Cabinet would make decision on its own, putting a period on the argument by leaving the issue for future administrations. Not drawing a conclusion on the unconstitutionality of the extraordinary state funeral for Abe would be a consideration to the conservatives. But Kishida added his administration another example of indecisiveness.

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