Japan today pays tribute to former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated during a rally on July 8 this year. Abe was the first prime minister assassinated in Japan in 55 years, and the funeral was held amid prayer, flower laying, and 19 gun salutes.

The ceremony began at 2 pm local time with Abe's ashes carried into the Nippon Budokan hall in central Tokyo by his widow, Akie, to the music of a military band and the voices of the honor guard salute, which echoed inside the hall.

The areas near the funeral site were packed with mourners seeking to pay their last respects to Abe.

Within a few hours about 10,000 people had already laid flowers, and the local media showed a line of more people who would take at least another three hours to do their flower laying.

According to Reuters, the state funeral of what is considered Japan's all-time minister is being held by the opposition party and has been budgeted at $11.5 million.

This high cost of the ceremony is being contested because Japan is in a crisis where the poor have almost nothing.

Around Tokyo, some demonstrators waved signs and chanted "No state funeral" to the sound of a guitar.