Three days after he was shot while delivering a speech in the western Japanese city of Nara, Abe Shinzo, Japan's longest serving prime minister, began his final journey in Tokyo.
IMAGE: The vehicle that will transport Abe's body arrives at his residence in Tokyo, July 11, 2022.
Abe and his wife Akie lived in his mother's modest apartment, and Richard Lloyd Parry, The Times's Japan correspondent, who lived in the same apartment block, has written of seeing him in the area interacting with residents.
A few days ago, Parry's partner spotted Abe and Akie walking their dachshund around the block. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
IMAGE: Akie Abe in the vehicle carrying her husband's body to a night vigil at a temple in Tokyo. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
IMAGE: The main gate of the Zojoji temple, where the vigil and funeral will be held. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE: A mourner bows in front of a flower offering inside the Zojoji temple. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
IMAGE: People take a selfie at the Zojoji temple. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
IMAGE: A mourner weeps for Abe at the Zojoji temple. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
IMAGE: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party MP Junko Mihara -- who Wikipedia informs us once urged Abe to 'promote hakkō ichiu, a slogan meaning 'the world under one roof, meaning the world united under the Japanese empire' -- at the vigil for Abe at the Zojoji temple. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE: Toshihiro Nikai -- who Abe appointed LDP secretary general in 2016 -- at the vigil. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE: People wait to lay flowers for Abe at the Zojoji temple. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
IMAGE: A motorcade transporting Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves the vigil for Abe at the Zojoji temple. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE: Rahm Emanuel, the United States ambassador to Japan, at the vigil for Abe, who vigorously championed better Japan-US ties when he was prime minister. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the vigil for Abe. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE: Sakie Yokota, 84, -- who Wikipedia informs us founded the Japanese National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea in 1997 with her husband Shigeru and twin sons Takuya and Tetsuya.
'The Association supports the victims of North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Yokotas' daughter Megumi was kidnapped in 1977 by North Korean spies; her current whereabouts are unknown' -- at the vigil for Abe at the Zojoji temple.
Abe had attended Shigeru Yokota's funeral. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE: Mourners at the vigil for Abe at the Zojoji temple. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
IMAGE:The funeral is expected to be private, attended only by Abe's family and close associates. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters