The cost of Japan's former PM Abe's state burial to exceed $12 million

According to a fresh estimate released by the government on Tuesday, which includes security and reception expenses, Japan will shell out around 1.65 billion yen ($12 million) for the state burial scheduled for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The government approved a more modest 250 million yen budget for the burial in late August, but was afterwards criticised for what was thought to be an unrealistic figure that did not include significant expenses for the security and hosting of VIPs.

According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the government has revised its estimate for the funeral's security price to be around 800 million yen, while the cost of entertaining foreign delegations will be about 600 million yen.

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“If we were to give a simplified estimate, I guess the total would be close to what you said,” he said in response to a question asking whether the total of the state funeral would be about 1.7 billion yen.

Approximately 6,000 attendees are anticipated during the event, which will take place on September 27 at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan auditorium. Over 190 international delegations are among theguests, and according to Matsuno, about 50 of those delegations are anticipated to include VIPs at the head-of-state level. At a July election rally, Abe was fatally shot.

Abe is Japan'slongest-serving but most divisive prime minister, and opposition to a taxpayer-funded memorial ceremony for him has persisted. This opposition has been made worse by discoveries about his and other ruling party members' connections to the contentious Unification Church. The popularity of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has also declined.

“We decided to give this estimation in accordance with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s bid to be thorough about clarifying the details” of the state funeral, Matsuno said.

According to local media, Abe's alleged killer admitted to prosecutors that he hated the religious organisation, which is well-known for its mass marriages and aggressive fund-raising strategies, and that he thought Abe had ties to it.

(With inputs from agencies)

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