1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: Now to our guest, Isabel Reynolds is Bloomberg Asia government 2 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: reporter and she's here to talk about the former Japanese 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,600 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Shinzo Abbe's funeral and what is somewhat a 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: divisive state funeral with public sentiment souring here and hurting 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: the current prime minister's support. What do we know, Isabel, right, Well, 6 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: as you say, this has become a rather divisive event 7 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:25,440 Speaker 1: in Japan. The current Prime Minister fum announced it just 8 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,159 Speaker 1: several days after the actual assassination, when there was a 9 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: great atmosphere of mourning in the country. UM and it 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: seemed probably at that point the right step. But since 11 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: since that time, the police investigation has revealed um links 12 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: between Prime Minister Abbe and the Unification Church or what 13 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:45,879 Speaker 1: was formerly known as the Unification Church UM and this 14 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: has become a sort of major scandal in Japan and 15 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: has tarnished the image of the former premier. And I 16 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: think it's added to the opposition to the funeral. And 17 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: indeed it seems that Aurbe, suspected killer, had a grudguate 18 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: against this church too, which is obviously such an awful 19 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: story how he was assassinated. Just tell us more. I 20 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: guess about some of the gripes that the public have 21 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: when they're facing a dire poverty right well, I think 22 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 1: it would be a bit of an exaggeration to say 23 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: most of the population of facing dire poverty right now. 24 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: But there is certainly a huge increase in for example, 25 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,919 Speaker 1: food and fuel prices UM and as we know in Japan, 26 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,759 Speaker 1: wages have not risen for a long time in any 27 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: significant way. So people are feeling a financial blow. This 28 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: event is going to be costing twelve million dollars. And 29 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: for people who were perhaps not big fans of Abbe 30 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: didn't like the policies that he had, such as um 31 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: strengthening the military, which was not popular with some people 32 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: in the country that's long been pacifist. That twelve million 33 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: dollars doesn't doesn't seem like a good use of money. UM. 34 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: So that's another reason why the support has not really 35 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: been there for this event, and we have seen a 36 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: number of protests against it. We've also seen even a 37 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: court case trying to bring a holt to the whole thing. Yeah, exactly. 38 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: I did mean the people that are angry against the 39 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: Unification Church. As Blomberg reports, this alleged gunman says it 40 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: drove his family into poverty. Let's get to who's actually 41 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: going to turn up to this funeral though we're going 42 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: to see less people, fewer people than expected, and who 43 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: is actually attending right? Um? Well that the probably the 44 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: most prominent attendee is going to become a Harris from 45 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: the U S device President and she had a meeting 46 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: with Prime Minister for me forma last night um, and 47 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: she'll be there at the funeral with with an entourage 48 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: also including people like Katherine Tye and the U S 49 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: Ambassador here. Um. We also have the Indian Prime Minister 50 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: Nara and Drew Mardi who will just be in town 51 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: for a few hours to attend the funeral. We have 52 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 1: the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, also three previous prime 53 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: Australian Prime Ministers because Premise Abbe. Former Minister Abbe did 54 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: make a great point of both during ties with with 55 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: the Australia and made made Japan and Australia into a 56 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,639 Speaker 1: sort of pseudo allies in military terms. So those ties 57 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: are quite important. But we don't have any sort of 58 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: current serving G seven leaders. The only one who was 59 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: to have been here was Canada's Justin Trudeau, who in 60 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: fact has to cancel because of Hurricane Fiona. So we 61 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 1: have a total of four thousand, three d people expected 62 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: to attend. That's a bit less than the six thousand 63 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 1: that was initially estimated. Um and I think that's partly 64 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: because a lot of opposition politicians have opted to stay 65 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: away due to the big divisions in society over this event. 66 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: All right, Isabel, great reporting, as always, thank you. Isabel 67 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: Reynolds is Bloomberg Asia Government reporter with us from Tokyo.