Tokyo: Many people visited flower stands set up near the venue of the state funeral for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, the day of the funeral, while some others demonstrated against the event around the venue amid strict security measures by police.

“I had a gentle impression” of Abe, said Hajime Kurihara, 70, among the visitors to the stands.

“He was a great person by global standards. I’m glad that I was able to offer flowers,” the dispatched worker in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, said.

“I was able to live in peace because Mr. Abe was prime minister,” a self-employed woman, 44, from Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, said. “I said to him, ‘Thank you from the bottom of my heart.'”

In a park about 1 kilometer from the funeral venue, meanwhile, a rally was held by people demanding the cancellation of the state funeral.

“The process in which the decision was made to hold the state funeral was wrong,” a 69-year-old housewife from Tokyo’s Suginami Ward said. “I came here to express my opposition (to the funeral).”

A 61-year-old male corporate employee from the city of Saitama said, “Why are they holding this event despite so many objections shown in opinion polls?”

JIJI Press