Abe’s militaristic funeral captures Japan’s tense mood

By FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — For all the heated arguments ahead of the controversial state funeral of assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — both for and against — it was the images of Tuesday’s ceremony that most clearly tell the story of a deeply divided nation still struggling to process the legacy of perhaps the most polarizing leader in its modern history. Sections of Tokyo looked more like a police state than the capital of one of the most stable nations in the world. Twenty thousand police officers and more than 1,000 soldiers crammed neighborhoods around the massive funeral hall as thousands of protesters took to the streets.