Japanese Government Approves State Funeral Date for Slain Former Prime Minister Abe

A mourner offers flowers next to a picture of late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, on the day to mark a week after his assassination at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters, in Tokyo on July 15, 2022. Issei Kato/Reuters

TOKYO—The Japanese government said on Friday it would hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sept. 27.

Abe, prime minister for more than eight years over two terms and hugely influential in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) even after leaving office, was gunned down two weeks ago at a campaign rally, an incident that deeply shocked Japan.