Within a week of Shinzo Abe’s assassination in July, Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida announced that a state funeral would be held for the nation’s longest-serving elected leader. It was a decision, made without any public debate, that showed Kishida in command of the political scene.
But while world leaders will gather to mourn Abe next Tuesday at Tokyo’s Budokan arena, analysts said Kishida’s now-deeply unpopular commitment to the ¥1.6bn ($11mn) funeral could prove disastrous for a prime minister whose approval ratings have fallen to dangerously low levels.
Kishida’s woes have kindled concerns that his time as leader could be limited and that Japan could return to an unstable period of revolving-door prime ministers. Kishida’s predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, stepped down after just a year. Before Abe’s record-breaking 2012-to-2020 stint, Japan had 17 changes of prime minister since 1989.