Japanese sets self on fire; protest State Funeral
Anthony Kamau
A man set himself on fire on Wednesday morning near the Japanese prime minister’s Tokyo office in what appeared to be a protest over planned state funeral for erstwhile Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
According to report by a local media, the man who is believed to be in his 70s was taken to hospital with burns on large parts of his body after pouring oil and alighting himself.
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“Personally, I am absolutely against Abe’s funeral,” a note found near him indicated.
Abe, who was the longest-serving prime minister in Japan, was assassinated on July 8 at a public rally campaigning for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Japanese government has scheduled a state funeral to be held in Tokyo early next week on September 27, with thousands of people expected to attend.
The decision to accord the ex-premier a state funeral has been controversial with polls indicating rising public opposition against the publicly-funded state funeral. Critics have said it was decided undemocratically and is an inappropriate and costly use of taxpayers’ money.
Although the opposition is highly compounded by use of public funds, the perceived linkage between LDP and the controversial Unification Church are making it more intense as a survey revealed earlier this month that nearly half of LDP’s 379 legislators had some form of interaction with the church that has been labelled a cult.
Abe’s suspected assassin claims that he killed the former prime minister for his connection with the Unification Church which he believes rendered his family bankrupt through extortion.
Abe stepped down as the prime minister in August 2022 due to health reasons but remained a prominent figure in Japan till the time of death.
