![The lawmaker's badge (right) and microphone (left) that former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was wearing and holding at the time of his assassination. [Abe Shinzo Retrospective Exhibition official website]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/04/news-p.v1.20260704.d4529e6485dc41e784d30ee6fe27b67c_P1.png)
A retrospective exhibition honoring former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has opened in Tokyo, with personal belongings from the day of his assassination — including the shoes and lawmaker's badge he was wearing — put on public display.
The exhibition, commemorating Abe, who was killed in a 2022 shooting, runs through July 12 at Tokyo Big Sight in Koto Ward, Tokyo, according to Yonhap News Agency and Kyodo News.
On display are the shoes and lawmaker's badge Abe was wearing at the time of the shooting, as well as the speech microphone he was holding. His office desk and chair from the National Assembly members' office building have also been moved to the venue, allowing visitors to take commemorative photographs.
Other items on display include a diary Abe kept as an elementary school student and photographs taken with his wife, Akie.
Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, who has regarded Abe as her political mentor, said in a tribute message: "No matter where in the world you go, you can feel the magnitude of the achievements Prime Minister Abe left behind for Japan and the Japanese people."
Abe was shot and killed in July 2022 while campaigning for a House of Councillors election in Nara city, Nara Prefecture. The gunman, Yamagami Tetsuya, 45, used a homemade firearm.
Yamagami claimed he carried out the attack because his family had been financially ruined by his mother's large donations to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification — formerly known as the Unification Church — and he suspected ties between the organization and Liberal Democratic Party politicians, including Abe. He was sentenced to life in prison in a first-instance ruling in January and appealed.
kyoung@heraldcorp.com
