The government is considering halving the number of guests invited to its annual cherry-blossom viewing event as part of a broad review amid allegations that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has used the publicly funded gathering for his own benefit, officials said Thursday.To address growing criticism about the yearly event held since 1952 to honor people such as athletes and celebrities for their accomplishments, the government may reduce its size by half from around 18,000 this year, according to the officials.Before the allegations came to light, the government had a rough target of 10,000 gue…READ FULL ARTICLE
