Opposition and demonstrations have resulted from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's plan to organise a state funeral for former leader Shinzo Abe. The assassination of Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime leader, occurred in July, and he will receive a rare state funeral the following week. The decision, according to critics, was made by Kishida for political motives and lacks any legal support. After Abe and the ruling party's affiliations with a contentious church in South Korea came to light, protests against the official burial became even more intense. Here is more information on the political problem that the Kishida administration is experiencing.

In Tokyo last week, a Japanese guy lit himself on fire. He admitted to authorities that he attempted his life to protest the upcoming public burial for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The public's outrage over political scandal and resistance to Abe's successor from the same party, current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has turned Abe's burial into a flashpoint. Prime Minister Kishida stated that he would consider the views of the Japanese people. But he disregarded public opinion surveys that indicate that the majority of people are opposed to the state funeral.

In the wake of Abe's murder in July, new information about the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's ties to the Unification Church—a sect whose adherents are frequently referred to as "Moonies"—was made public. The extent of the Unification Church's involvement in Japanese politics astounded me to no end. This is risky. I believe this shouldn't be allowed to happen.

Abe's grandfather was the one who helped the Unification Church enter Japan in the late 1960s. The members of the Unification Church are called moonies, as it was founded by a man called Sun Myung Moon. These familial relationships hurt Abe. Additionally, mass weddings and forced donations from members come to mind when people think of the Moonies. As a result, the Moonies do not generally enjoy a good reputation in Japan. And the fact that an organisation with a reputation for being a cult has such strong ties to the establishment shocked everyone. People are therefore curious as to what is happening. How is this possible? Because of the ties between the Moonies and the Dynastic family and the widespread belief that the Moonies are a cult, I believe that there is already mistrust of Abe and that his legacy is now poisonous. Additionally, former Unification Church members have filed more than 30,000 official complaints alleging that they were duped of a total of about $800 million. People are aware of this, and you can see how badly this has affected Kishida.

Hak Ja Han's (the wife of Sun Myung Moon) palace in South Korea

The suspect in Shinzo Abe's murder accused the Unification Church of wrecking his family by duping his mother into making large donations, which led to a family bankruptcy. He was unable to attack the church's leaders so he turned his attention to the church's most well-known political supporter, former Prime Minister Abe.

The Unification Church, however, has separated itself from the entire situation. They have asserted that further inquiry is needed into the question of how much money the mother gave to the Church. So yet, it's unclear whether the suspect's accusations are accurate. However, the Church doesn't provide much information on that.

Over a hundred lawmakers have some sort of connection to the Unification Church. Whether they are conservatives in the ruling party or other conservatives in the opposition parties, this is upending Japanese conservatism. Politicians who have ties to the Church in some way, such as accepting volunteers for their campaigns or taking part in church-related events, are the subject of new press reports every day. It has been shown that local assembly members down to national parliamentarians, cabinet members, state governors, and city mayors have connections to this church and work together with it to get votes.

As of yet, there hasn't been any evidence of unlawful activities involving this Church. But because of all the coverage of the situation involving the suspect's mother and other others who have throughout the years asserted in court that they were conned, it is developing a very bad image in the media. Additionally, legal organisations have been urging legislators to quit defending the Church for years. Therefore, it's pretty embarrassing for these politicians now that these ties are more widely known, and they will have a lot of explaining to do the next time there is an election.

After a slew of scandals, Abe was extremely unpopular when he announced his resignation two years ago. The stated reason for his death, however, was his close ties to the church. His murderer claims that the Unification Church cheated his mother, leaving his family penniless. The murder of Abe brought attention to the church's close ties to the LDP, Japan's ruling party. In addition to apologising, Prime Minister Kashida committed to breaking his party's ties to the church. However, the consequences have been extremely detrimental to the LDP, his government, and him personally.

Therefore, I believe it is a symbol of the general outrage at Prime Minister Kishida's choice to organise a state burial for former Prime Minister Abe. And it's evident that the arguments Kishida has presented haven't convinced anyone. Additionally, the number of Japanese who oppose the state funeral is currently roughly two to one. In the week following Abe's terrible assassination, he had no idea that there would be such a fierce retaliation.

It's already been determined, therefore it would be a serious betrayal of faith for him to back down and admit his errors. He anticipated that this would help him politically. He intended to win over the Abe-aligned LDP hardliners, and this would give the LDP a chance to luxuriate in the success of Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history. This highlights, however, how terribly unpopular Abe was at the time of his resignation two years ago, and how a string of scandals contributed to a decline in public confidence in him. His political legacy is therefore seriously contested among the Japanese.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces an uphill political battle

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's adherence to this choice could in certain cases be detrimental to his party. There is, however, no going back. That was it once he made his choice public. No reset button was present, either. The issue is that he wasn't prepared for the media exposure regarding the Moonies' vast and close links to the LDP, which is currently in power. As a result, information concerning how intricate and systematic those links are has been constantly coming to light. And the LDP and Kishida will undoubtedly suffer as a result. He shuffled his cabinet in an attempt to reset things, but it turned out that most of the new hires were also charged.

Connection to the Akihabara massacre and Japan’s death penalty

This atrocity happened a few years ago when a lonely young man announced on the Internet that he planned to carry out a random attack on residents of the Akihabara neighbourhood. At the time, nobody took his post seriously. Then he carried it out, killing seven people in the process. Furthermore, none of the targets he chose was people he knew, making it an especially disturbing incident. He simply chose at random that everyone is fine. He'll simply commit street murder. As a result, it was more frightening than the Abe assassination in many ways because it raised concerns about the public's safety from just any random loaners. But the anniversary of the execution of six members of the Om Shinrikyo religious sect who participated in a nerve gas terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway in the 1990s fell on the day that Mr Kato, the perpetrator of the Akihabara massacre, was put to death. Therefore, some claim that the selection of this day may have symbolic significance, conveying to Abe's killer that he can expect the death penalty.

The use of the death penalty has come under increasing international criticism, but according to Japan's justice minister, it was a necessary response in this particular case. What was the general consensus?

Japan stands out internationally, nearly 80% of the Japanese populace believes that the death sentence is justified. It is not frequently used in particular circumstances. Only a few persons are typically put to death each year, and the most serious crimes for which this punishment is used are frequently multiple murders. As a result, it is something that not many people object to, but it also isn't something that happens frequently.

More than 100 people are currently on death row in Japan, many of whom are requesting retrials. Unfortunately for them, retrials are unlikely to occur until there is a significant change in public opinion, which doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon. Therefore, these individuals won't be aware of the day of their execution. Just like how it happened to Mr Kato a few days ago, it will just happen unexpectedly. Therefore, it is still unlikely that this will be changed very soon.

Why was Shinzo Abe so unpopular? His controversial funeral and the Unification church scam

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