Japan’s royal women will remain barred from inheriting the imperial throne under new laws, despite overwhelming public support for a popular young princess to become the country's future empress.
The country's parliament recently passed controversial revisions to the rules governing the world's oldest continuous monarchy. While the government claims these changes aim to secure enough royal members to perform public duties, critics argue that the reform has one clear goal: to prevent a woman from ever ruling.
Currently, the Japanese imperial family is facing a severe succession crisis. It is down to its last young heir, 19-year-old Prince Hisahito, who is the nephew of the 66-year-old Emperor Naruhito.
The public's favorite candidate for the throne is Princess Aiko, the Emperor's 24-year-old only child. The literature graduate, who works full-time for the Japanese Red Cross Society, is highly popular, and opinion polls show that between 60% and 90% of the public support the idea of a female emperor.
However, the new laws ignore public opinion in favor of preserving a male-only line. To keep the royal family from shrinking, the revisions will allow princesses to remain in the family after marrying commoners—though they must perform official duties without any right to inherit the throne. Additionally, the family will be allowed to adopt male-line descendants from former royal branches. While these adopted men cannot inherit the throne themselves, any of their future sons would be eligible.
Seiichiro Noboru, a former Japanese diplomat with ties to the imperial family, points out that such a complicated system would be unnecessary if women were allowed to rule. He also argues that banning women from the throne violates Japan's constitutional guarantees against gender discrimination.
Conservatives, including Japan's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, defend the rules. Takaichi has argued that maintaining an unbroken male line for 126 generations is the foundation of the emperor's legitimacy.
Yet historians note that Japan has had eight female emperors over twelve centuries. All of them were descended from the male line, just like Princess Aiko. The strict male-only succession rule was actually introduced in 1889 by the Meiji government, influenced by views that emperors should be military commanders.
Emperor Naruhito himself is constitutionally barred from political commentary, but he carefully expressed his hope last month that discussions about the royal family's future would gain the understanding of the public.