Public anger at cost of ceremony for former PM and revelations over his party’s ties to religious group

A state funeral for Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been held in Tokyo amid public anger over the cost of the ceremony and revelations over his party’s ties to a controversial religious group.

More than 4,000 guests, including the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, stood in silence as a member of Japan’s self-defence forces [SDF] entered the Nippon Budokan hall, where a 19-gun salute sounded in honour of the assassinated former leader.