the earliest galaxies. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news it s newsday. it s 8am in singapore, and 9am injapan where a private funeral will be held in tokyo later, for the former prime minister shinzo abe, who died after being shot while at a political campaign event. mourners have streamed into a temple in tokyo to pay their respects. these are scenes from a vigil at the zojoji temple. world leaders have also paid tribute. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, said mr abe did more than anyone to elevate the relationship between their two countries. rupert wingfield hayes reports from tokyo. shinzo abe was a fresh faced 52 year old when he shocked everyone by becoming japan s youngest postwar prime minister. it did not go well. and in less than a year, he was gone. five years later, he plotted his return with a new hairstyle and a new slogan. and this time, he stayed, for eight years, longer than any other postwar japanese leader. today, japan is layin
prime minister kishida served as the foreign minister for prime minister shinzo abe for more than four years. he carries on a lot of the policy initiatives abe started, including a free and open pacific which is now blossomed to the quad content and further international cooperation of like minded democracy. in terms of economics, we will continue to follow on the growth and reform initiatives that the shinzo abe administration has started and hoping to help people overcome and bring back growth to the japanese economy. i think a lot of the initiatives that had been
shinzo abe was a fresh faced 52 year old when he shocked everyone by becoming japan s youngest postwar prime minister. it did not go well. and in less than a year, he was gone. five years later, he plotted his return with a new hairstyle and a new slogan. and this time, he stayed, for eight years, longer than any other postwar japanese leader. today, japan is laying mr abe to rest. his life snuffed out in a way few here thought possible. the outpouring of grief that we re seeing here again today is in part because of the truly awful way in which mr abe died, but there s something more. it feels like japan has lost a truly significant historicalfigure. so, what is it that mr abe did that has left such an indelible mark onjapanese politics?
policies, he tripled the nikkei index in eight years. he boosted international forjapan s role, and internationally for the deepening of the formation of the us japan alliance, and these are legacies that no other prime ministers were able to achieve and i think you be long remembered for those. indeed, there are those who criticise mr shinzo abe, and bringing japan closer to confrontation with china, what are your thoughts on that? i think shinzo abe really tried to reintroduce japan to take a more active role internationally and i think the definition of pacifist
bbc news, in tokyo. earlier i spoke to akihisa shiozaki, a former senior policy adviser to shinzo abe. i asked him about the legacy japan s longest serving prime minister left behind. the prime minister was the first boss that i served for in politics. he was a very warm, open leader. he would often joke around, make everyone around him comfortable to speak up and i think that really led to his long prime ministership leaving the country injapan. a lot of people are still suffering, mourning the loss of one of japan s most influential leaders, and simply put, he brought back self confidence injapan. through the success of economic