The funeral of Japanese former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was held on Tuesday in Tokyo.

About 4,600 Japanese and foreign dignitaries, including Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon, attended the funeral, which was jointly organized by the Cabinet and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at Nippon Budokan Hall.

Koizumi glorified Hashimoto in a memorial address for his strong leadership and historic accomplishments in financial and administrative reforms.

Hashimoto died on July 1. from multiple organ failure and septic shock. He had been in critical condition since early June when he was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain and received surgery to remove a large part of his intestine.

The out-spoken politician started his political career in 1963 as a young member of parliament. He was in the post of prime minister from 1996 to 1998, when Japan was struggling to recover from the collapse of its economy, and retired from politics last September, citing poor health.

Hashimoto led what was then the largest faction of the ruling LDP until July 2004, when he resigned from the post over a political scandal.

Hashimoto had made contributions to the improvement of relations between Japan and China. As one of the leaders of seven Japan-China friendship organizations, he went on a goodwill visit to China and met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in March.

Source: Xinhua