Japan changes imperial succession law as royal ranks thin
Parliament approved measures to keep more people in the imperial family while preserving Japan’s male-line succession rules.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Japan’s upper house has approved changes to the law governing the imperial family, completing parliamentary passage days after the lower house backed the measure. The revision matters because the world’s oldest continuous hereditary monarchy has a shrinking pool of working royals and only one young male heir.
The law is designed to keep enough imperial family members available for official duties as the family ages and loses members through marriage, according to NPR. It allows princesses to remain in the imperial household after marrying commoners and permits the family to adopt male-line descendants from former imperial branches.
The changes do not open the throne to women. Princesses who stay after marriage would continue public duties but would not be eligible to reign, NPR reported. Adopted men, because they were born commoners, also could not become emperor, but any future sons of theirs could be in line.
The imperial family’s future has drawn public concern because Prince Hisahito, 19, is the last young heir, according to NPR. He is the nephew of Emperor Naruhito, who is 66.
Seiichiro Noboru, a former Japanese diplomat with ties to the imperial family, told NPR that critics see the revision as aimed at blocking a future female emperor. Noboru argued that allowing a woman to take the throne would make the adoption mechanism unnecessary.
Princess Aiko and public support
Much of the debate centers on Princess Aiko, Emperor Naruhito’s 24-year-old only child. NPR reported that she studied Japanese literature, works full time for the Japanese Red Cross Society and draws large crowds at public events.
Noboru told NPR that Princess Aiko helps explain broad support in Japan for female emperors. Polls cited by NPR have shown support ranging from 60% to 90%.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, opposes changing the succession rule. At a party convention in April, she said the emperor’s authority and legitimacy rest on the imperial line having been maintained through male lineage for 126 generations, according to NPR.
Japan has previously had eight female emperors over nearly 12 centuries, NPR reported. They were descended through the male line, meaning they were children or grandchildren of male emperors, as Princess Aiko is.
Male-only rule dates to Meiji era
The practice of female emperors ended with the 1889 Imperial Household Law under the Meiji government, according to NPR. That government treated emperors as military commanders, heads of a “family-state” and semi-divine descendants of Shinto deities.
NPR reported that Meiji-era civil law placed married women in a legally subordinate position, including restrictions on owning property or signing contracts without their husbands’ consent. The imperial system also relied on concubines as a way to produce heirs at a time of high infertility and infant and maternal mortality.
A 2005 government advisory panel cited by NPR said nearly half of Japan’s 125 emperors were born to concubines, describing them as of “illegitimate descent.”
Noboru told NPR that excluding women from the throne conflicts with constitutional protections against gender discrimination. He also pointed to Article 1 of Japan’s Constitution, which says the emperor is the symbol of the nation and that the position derives from the will of the people.
The emperor, as a constitutional figurehead, is expected to avoid political intervention. At a press conference last month, Emperor Naruhito said he hoped discussions about maintaining enough imperial family members would gain public understanding, according to NPR.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.