Koizumi gives up on female royal succession

By George Nishiyama

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has decided to scrap his plan to submit a bill to the parliament to let women inherit the imperial throne, after news that a princess was pregnant raised hopes for a male heir, media reports said on Friday. 

Despite strong opposition from conservative lawmakers, Koizumi had pledged to present the bill to the current session of parliament to avoid a succession crisis. Only males are currently allowed to inherit the throne, but no boys have been born into Japan's ancient imperial family since 1965. 

With some cabinet ministers openly questioning his plans, news that Princess Kiko, wife of the emperor's second son, Prince Akishino, was pregnant with her third child gave Koizumi a face-saving way out of a potential political battle, some analysts said. 

"He was facing increasing opposition and was standing on very weak ground," said political analyst Minoru Morita. "So in that sense it was a godsend." 

Quoting a government source, Kyodo news agency said Koizumi decided not to submit the bill after consulting his aides, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. 

On Friday, Koizumi stopped short of admitting that he had abandoned his plan, but said the issue should not be used to stir up a feud. 

"It shouldn't become a subject of political strife," he told reporters, reiterating his hope for consensus. 

"It'd be good to revise the law if most people in the nation feel this is needed," he said, adding that this may take time. 

Abe said Kiko's pregnancy, announced on Tuesday, had altered the picture. 

"An extremely significant factor has emerged," Abe told a news conference, reiterating that the government would now wait for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to debate the issue. 

IS IT A BOY? 

Opponents of changing the succession law, many of them members of the conservative LDP, now say the government should wait and see if the baby -- due in September or October -- is a boy. 

The current succession law allows only males descended from emperors through the paternal line to become sovereign. 

Crown Prince Naruhito, 45, is first in line to the throne. He and his wife, Masako, 42, have one child, 4-year-old Princess Aiko, born eight years after they were married. 

The pressure on the couple to bear a son has been great, and Masako has been mostly out of public sight for more than two years due to a mental disorder caused by stress. 

If Kiko, who has two daughters, bears a son, he would be third in line to the throne under the current law. Under the proposed revisions to the law, Aiko would be second in line and could become Japan's first reigning empress since the 18th century. 

Opponents of changing the succession law want to maintain a male line they say stretches back more than 2,000 years, and some have suggested reviving pre-war princely houses or even bringing back royal concubinage. 

Japan has had eight reigning empresses, but traditionalists stress that none passed the throne on to a child who was not of the imperial paternal line. 

A newspaper survey published on Monday, the day before the news of the princess's pregnancy, showed 63 percent of respondents favoured letting women inherit the throne, although support had slipped 14 points from an earlier poll. 

Koizumi is set to step down in September when his term as ruling LDP president expires.