Man detained after what looked like a smoke bomb was thrown at Fumio Kishida just before speech

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has escaped unhurt after he was apparently targeted by an explosive device on Saturday morning. It comes less than a year after the country’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was shot dead while making a campaign speech.

Kishida was safely evacuated after the incident, while a suspect – named by Japanese media as Ryuji Kimura, 24, a resident of Hyogo prefecture – was arrested at the scene, reports said.

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 entered the Nippon Budokan hall, where a 19-gun salute sounded in honour of the assassinated former leader.

Public opposition to ceremony grows over cost to taxpayer and ex-PM’s ties to Unification church

Japan will spend about 1.65bn yen (£10.1m) on the increasingly controversial state funeral for the former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead during a campaign speech in July, amid growing public opposition to the plan.

The government has come under pressure to cancel the ceremony, with opinion polls showing that a majority of voters oppose it due to the cost to the taxpayer and revelations about ruling party politicians’ ties to the Unification church.

The church had built close ties with Fumio Kishida’s ruling party and a host of conservative lawmakers

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has announced that his ruling party will cut ties with the Unification church after a widening scandal caused by the assassination of the party’s former leader Shinzo Abe last month. Kishida also apologised for causing the loss of public trust in politics.

Cozy ties between members of Kishida’s governing Liberal Democratic party, many of them belonging to Abe’s faction, and the South Korean-born church have surfaced since Abe was shot to death while giving a campaign speech in July.

Itaru Nakamura says fresh start needed after assassination ‘to ensure this never happens again’

Japan’s most senior police officer has said he will resign to take responsibility for security lapses leading up to the fatal shooting last month of the former prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

Itaru Nakamura said on Thursday that he intended to step down as head of the national police agency to give the organisation a “fresh start”, weeks after Abe was gunned down while making an election campaign speech.

Reshuffle comes after murder of Shinzo Abe put spotlight on ruling party’s ties with religious movement

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has removed ministers associated with the Unification church in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at reviving his fortunes amid a public outcry over his party’s ties to the religious movement.

The reshuffle comes just over a month after the murder of Shinzo Abe by a man who has said he targeted the former prime minister over his links to the church, which he blamed for his family’s financial ruin.

Cabinet has approved event for 27 September but critics question cost and possible political exploitation

Opposition is mounting to plans to hold a state funeral for the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead earlier this month.

The cabinet on Friday approved arrangements for the funeral – only the second of its kind for a former Japanese leader in the postwar period – on 27 September.

Members of the public pay their respects to former prime minister outside Buddhist temple

Family and friends of Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, have attended his funeral at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo while members of the public paid their respects outside, four days after he was shot dead while making a campaign speech.

Mourners in black suits and dresses gathered at Zojoji temple for the private funeral service, while police officers monitored onlookers, some holding bunches of flowers, who had braved the early afternoon heat.

Tetsuya Yamagami’s mother attends meetings, says Unification church, after he told investigators of grudge

The mother of the man accused of assassinating Shinzo Abe is a member of the Unification church, which the suspect has cited as a motive for his fatal shooting of the former Japanese prime minister last week.

The church, whose members are colloquially known as Moonies, confirmed at a press conference on Monday that the mother of Tetsuya Yamagami, who was detained moments after he shot Abe from behind during an election campaign speech on Friday, attends meetings about once a month.

Exit polls show LDP retaining power with comfortable election victory as country mourns

Japan’s ruling party has won a comfortable victory in elections overshadowed by the assassination of the former prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

Exit polls showed that the Liberal Democratic party (LDP), which Abe led until he resigned in 2020, had secured more than half the 125 seats being contested in the 248-seat upper house.

Police pledge thorough investigation into security flaws as polls open for upper house elections amid increased police presence

Police in Japan have admitted there were “problems” with security for Shinzo Abe, as voters went to the polls for upper house elections two days after the former prime minister was assassinated on the campaign trail.

The head of police in the Nara region where Abe was killed admitted on Saturday that there were “undeniable” flaws in security for the former leader.