Television ratings for the state funeral of slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the public broadcaster hit an average 9.7 percent in Tokyo and surrounding areas, an audience monitoring firm said Wednesday.The average viewership in the Kanto region was gauged over an hour from 3 p.m. Tuesday on public broadcaster NHK's main channel, according to the preliminary data by Video Research Ltd.The special broadcast began 20 minutes before the ceremony's 2 p.m. start time and ran more than two hours, providing live broadcast from the venue, commentary on Abe's political career and other cover…READ FULL ARTICLE