Blinken departs Japan after paying respects to Abe

STORY: “I came at the president's behest because more than allies, we're friends, and when a friend is hurting, other friends show up,” Blinken told media at Yokota Air Base, just before boarding his flight out.

Blinken made the previously unscheduled stop in Tokyo after his visit to Bangkok during a tour of Asia that also took him to Indonesia for a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.

Abe, Japan's longest-serving modern leader, was gunned down on Friday (July 8) during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara, in a killing that stunned a country where political violence and gun crime are rare. He was pronounced dead around five and a half hours after the shooting.