replaced with two modern structures. After Nichiren Shoshu's excommunication of Soka Gakkai, he also had demolished several ferro-concrete edifices donated by Soka Gakkai, replacing them with buildings more in keeping with the atmosphere of a traditional Japanese Buddhist temple. To Soka Gakkai this was highly controversial considering that the buildings were built with donations from Soka Gakkai members. After the excommunication of Soka Gakkai, Abe founded numerous temples overseas (the last temple he founded was the Kaimyo-in Temple in Singapore in December 2005) and minor propagation centers in Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America as well as Europe and North America. He also frequently visited them personally despite his advanced age. Expulsion of the Soka Gakkai Soka Gakkai further attributes Abe's motivation for demolishing the Shohondo building (completed in 1972), the Dai Kyakuden (1964), and other buildings in the Taiseki-ji compound donated by Soka Gakkai, to resentment towards and jealousy of Soka Gakkai's leadership and to a desire to usurp the achievements of his predecessor. Abe's demolition of the Shohondo building was particularly controversial. Its construction was completed in 1972 largely through the efforts and financial donations of Soka Gakkai members, and it was regarded as a notable work of contemporary Japanese architecture. In response, Nichiren Shoshu stated that the official petitioner of the Shohondo, Daisaku Ikeda, was no longer a Nichiren Shoshu believer, and that therefore a structure donated by him was no longer worthy of serving as the head temple's high sanctuary, the building housing the Dai-Gohonzon, the school's most sacred object. In addition, Abe personally oversaw the transfer of the Dai-Gohonzon from the Shohondo to Taisekiji's Hoanden, the building that housed it during construction of the Hoando, its new home. Additional views claim that Abe's decision to expel Soka Gakkai was part of a personal vendetta against Ikeda due to the following issues: The deliberate manufacturing of several wooden Gohonzons that Ikeda had made without the consent of previous High Priest Nittatsu Shonin The consistent officiation by Soka Gakkai leaders of Nichiren Shoshu ceremonies without the presence of priests. The 35th Soka Gakkai anniversary speech on 16 November 1990 in which SGI President Daisaku Ikeda allegedly made vulgar statements insulting the dignity of the priesthood. However, Nichiren Shoshu insists that the issue behind the demolition of the Shohondo and the subsequent erection on the same site of a new high sanctuary, the Hoando, was a necessary step