THE nation’s unpopular revisions to the Imperial House Law that reinforce the male-only succession rules have taken effect.
The new rules are expected to bring historic changes to Japan’s 1,500-year-old monarchy.
The changes include allowing the adoption of distant male relatives raised as commoners to become royals and father future heirs, and letting princesses keep their royal status after marrying commoners.
But the revised law bars Emperor Naruhito’s hugely popular daughter Princess Aiko, 24, from becoming his successor, and her future possible children from even becoming royals.
Critics say the revisions discriminate against people based on their family background or gender and put pressure on younger members of the royal family to produce male offspring.
The Imperial Household Agency says officials are studying how to implement the measures.
The male-only succession rule means the line must move to the emperor’s younger brother Akishino, then to his 20-year-old nephew Prince Hisahito. Next in line after him is the emperor’s 90-year-old uncle.
The revised law allows adoption of unmarried male descendants, aged 15 or older, of distant imperial relatives – but only of paternal lineage – into a branch of the royal family.
The plan is to find candidates from families that renounced their royal status in 1947 to ease the postwar financial burden on the monarchy.
Four of the 11 such families remain, but they are at least 36 generations removed from Naruhito after splitting from a common male-line ancestor 600 years ago, officials said.
The government’s efforts to make sure that male royals are producing male emperors have triggered criticisms.
Conservative scholars say there are a number of candidates, but so far nobody has come forward and many are skeptical if anyone will volunteer. Experts also raise questions about the lack of transparency in the selection process.
Previously, princesses who married a commoner had to renounce their royal status and leave the royal family.
The last one who did so, though willingly, was Mako, one of two nieces of Naruhito, who married her college boyfriend in 2021 and has moved to the United States where he became a lawyer.
Five single princesses, including Aiko and her cousin, Kako, 31, can now choose whether to remain as royals if they marry.
The change aims to keep female royals from leaving, allowing them to pursue their work and help in official duties as the imperial lineage ages and declines.
But experts say the effect will be limited because the law does not give royal status to their future husbands and children.
The measure raises many questions including wedding rituals, where the princesses should live after marriage, and whether husbands or children can accompany princesses on official duties.
Experts say their main concern is a possibility that some civil rights of commoner husbands and their children could be restricted as with the royals.
All but one mainstream newspaper have criticised the revisions, and media surveys show a large majority of the public support female monarchs or maternal-line succession. — AP
