U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday and expressed his condolences over the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese local media reported.

Blinken arrived in Tokyo earlier in the day for a previously unscheduled stop and headed first to the U.S. embassy where he led staff in a moment of silence, a U.S. State Department official said.

Before his return to the U.S., Blinken said the U.S. also felt the sense of lost after Abe's death, who was shot dead during a campaign speech on July 8.

"I'm here because the United States and Japan are more than allies, we are friends. And when one friend is hurting, the other friend shows up," he said.