The murder of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Friday elicited a wave of messages of sympathy and a flood of tributes from around the world. UK prime minister Boris Johnson said that Abe’s “global leadership through unchartered times will be remembered by many.” India’s president Rashtrapati Bhavan tweeted: “I find it difficult to believe that Shinzo Abe is no more. He was a great statesman, & his infectious affability endeared him the world over.”

Here in the grand duchy, Japanese ambassador to Luxembourg Jiro Okuyama told Delano that: “My heart is with his family. He was the longest serving Prime Minister in modern Japan and was admired or respected even by people with different political views.” Abe was the first Japanese prime minister to make a bilateral visit to Luxembourg in 2015. “I strongly condemn the act of violence that brought him down, hampering freedom of speech in the midst of a national election campaign,” said Okuyama. “May his soul rest in peace.”

Prime minister Xavier Bettel earlier in the day had also expressed his sympathy and recalled the 2015 visit. “He has a special place in our hearts and memories,” said the Luxembourg prime minister. 

Former US president Barack Obama called Abe a “friend and longtime partner” and praised his devotion to both his native country “and the extraordinary alliance between the United States and Japan.”