Shinzo Abe funeral: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Japan on September 27 to attend the funeral of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.
Abe, 67, died in July after being shot while giving a campaign speech on a street in Nara, Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has strongly defended the state funeral for Abe scheduled on September 27 at the Budokan arena.
Defending the decision to hold the ceremony, Kishida said, "We've received many requests to attend the funeral from people, including members of royal families, presidents and heads of states. I increasingly feel we need to respond to such admiration and condolences with courtesy."
He also vowed to "squarely answer questions" from opposition parties about the state funeral in the Parliament, reports from Tokyo said.
In a recent poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun, 30 per cent of respondents said they supported the event while 53 per cent were opposed to it.
Public opinion in Japan remains divided over whether Abe should be granted such an honor. Many see it as a waste of taxpayers' money. The cabinet confirmed that at least 250 million yen has been allocated for the ceremony at the Budokan arena.
That figure, though, doesn't include security expenditure, with opposition parties suggesting the final bill could run into billions.
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