Japan’s parliament on Friday approved the first major amendment to the country’s imperial succession laws, designed to address the risk that the last young male heir will not have a son.
By law, only a male from the ancestral line can become emperor in Japan. Female royals are required to leave the royal family when they marry commoners.
Japanese Emperor Naruhito, who ascended the throne in 2019, and his wife, Empress Masako, have one child, 24-year-old Princess Aiko, born in 2001. She cannot be heir to the throne under the current arrangement.
Instead, Naruhito’s younger brother, Prince Akishino (also known as Fumihito), is considered the Crown Prince. Akishino’s son, Prince Hisahito, is second in line to the throne.
In 2005, a panel appointed by then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi unanimously recommended allowing female emperors and succession through the female line. The proposal was shelved after immediate concerns were mitigated by the birth of Prince Hisahito the following year.
Chances of male heir increasing
At the moment, there are only three candidates who could theoretically succeed 66-year-old Naruhito: his brother, Crown Prince Akishino (60), Prince Hisahito (19), and Naruhito’s uncle Prince Hitachi (90).
The latest changes, however, allow male members of former collateral branches of the royal family to rejoin. Those branches lost their imperial status after the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II and their members have since lived as private citizens.
Under the new law, males from those branches can enter the family through adoption when they are at least 15 years old. Adoptees themselves would not receive succession rights, but their future male-line sons would be eligible to the throne.
Women are still not legally allowed to ascend the throne.
Opinion polls show that the agreement reached by Parliament – while Prime Minister Sanae Takachi supported it – is unpopular among the broader public, who want to see Emperor Naruhito’s daughter inherit the throne.
a nationwide Mainichi Shimbun The survey, conducted in June, found that 40% of respondents supported both a female monarch and female-line succession, while 33% supported a female monarch but opposed female-line succession. Overall, 73% supported a female monarch, while 6% opposed the idea.
Rethinking royal succession
Sven Saller of Sophia University in Tokyo said it is the first significant amendment to Imperial Household Law since 1947 and shows that “gender equality is not among the priorities.” “A woman sitting on the royal throne has been pushed even further away by the legal amendment,” he told Germany’s dpa news agency.
An editorial in Japan’s Liberal Asahi Shimbun The newspaper challenged statements made during parliamentary debates that male-line succession represented an unbroken 2,600-year tradition, arguing that parts of the early royal lineage were rooted in mythology rather than verifiable history.
European monarchies increasingly adopted gender-neutral succession as women gained political rights after the two world wars, to reflect equality and secure stable royal succession, it added. Asahi Shimbun.
Keiko Hongo, an emeritus professor of Japanese medieval history at the University of Tokyo, said Asahi Shimbun Former female emperors of Japan were historically significant, particularly because women were generally excluded from leading samurai families.
Hongo stated that the current royal family already had sufficient legitimacy, arguing that succession through women was more natural than restoring the male lineage through distant relatives.
Constitutional Democratic Party Chairman Shunichi Mizuoka questioned the amendment on gender-equality grounds in a press conference and called for an end to male-male succession.
conservatives protect tradition
Supporters of the amendment reject the claim that male-line succession discriminates against women.
conservative Sankei Shimbun Those supporting the amendment argued that royal succession always followed the male line and therefore it was not a case of gender discrimination.
It warned against abandoning that tradition and said uncertainty remained because Prince Hisahito is the only eligible male heir of his generation.
Akira Momochi, professor of constitutional law at Kokushikan University in Tokyo, said Sankei Shimbun This reform will help preserve traditional male-line succession.
He argued that there was no immediate need to discuss a female emperor because the succession from Naruhito to Akishino to Hisahito had already been established.
Kenichi Kawamura, a political figure and adviser to the Central Union of Japan-Korea Friendship Association, said allowing married female royals to remain in the family is a practical way to ensure stable imperial succession.
He supported adoption from former royal branches in principle but said that potential members should ideally receive royal education from childhood.
Kawamura stated that, in his personal view, an “Empress Aiko” serving for one reign could be considered as an emergency measure if the male lineage becomes unstable, without triggering female-line succession.
“The emperor is a ceremonial figure who prays for Japan’s lasting prosperity, the equivalent of the Pope, and he should stay away from politics,” he told DW.
“I hope the reform will help create a stable imperial family that the Japanese people will respect and appreciate.”
Edited by: Keith Walker