The official funeral ceremony for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead during his election speech in Japan on July 8, was scheduled for September 27 at the Budokan indoor arena in Tokyo, causing a national crisis. Around 13,000 people protested in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, opposing the ceremony’s cost, which was announced to be 1.65 billion yen (about $11.5 million), to be covered by the state budget. Members of opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Communist Party of Japan, joined the group, which carried banners and pennants reading “No to the State Funeral”.

The group claimed in a statement that Abe’s ties to the religious group known as the Unification Church made his political past suspicious, and that the public was divided over Abe’s achievements and the scandals he was involved in. Protesters criticized the decision being made without adequate discussion in parliament, pointing out that there is no constitutional provision requiring an official funeral for former prime ministers.