Some 2,000 mourners, including current and former lawmakers, attended a memorial service held Saturday for slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Yamaguchi Prefecture, where his constituency was located.
"My husband loved Yamaguchi Prefecture, and (supporters here) let him do big work for Japan. It was a fruitful 67 years of life for him," the late leader's widow, Akie, said at the ceremony at a convention center in Shimonoseki. "He was sent off magnificently."
A state funeral was held last month for Abe, the country's longest-serving leader, who was fatally shot during an election campaign speech on July 8 in the city of Nara by a lone gunman.