Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino (C) with his son Prince Hisahito (L) and daughter Kako (R).
Tokyo, Japan:
Japan’s royal family is facing extinction due to a shortage of qualified emperors, but some experts say the ideas put forward during the government investigation to boost the number of royals are growing. descending was no longer in contact.
With women barred from ascending to the throne under a male-only rule of succession, the residence of Emperor Naruhito, 61, will one day be filled by his grandson Prince Hisahito instead of a child. His only one is Princess Aiko.
But if 15-year-old Hisahito had no son, then the royal family, with a history of more than 2,600 years, would run out of male heirs to continue the line.
Polls show widespread public support for the idea of a woman taking on the role of emperor – someone who does not wield political power under post-World War II Japan’s constitution but carries significance. huge icon weight.
However, pressure to conform to age-old tradition from conservative lawmakers and voters, who see the royal family as the perfect example of a patriarchal Japanese family, makes succession difficult for women. could happen soon.
Officials are weighing possible solutions to the dilemma, and last week a specially mandated panel submitted two proposals to the government.
One is to allow royal women to keep their titles and public duties when they marry outside the family. For now, they have to leave the family, as former princess Mako Komuro did in October after marrying her college sweetheart.
The second was to allow men from 11 former branches of the royal family abolished during the post-war reforms to “re-enter” the direct line through adoption.
The council report recommends that the rules on male lineage be preserved at least until Prince Hisahito becomes emperor.
But its ideas “are not at all based on the current family system in Japan or ideas about gender equality,” Makoto Okawa, a history professor at Chuo University in Tokyo, told AFP.
Okawa, who studies the imperial system, said: “I think the public is wondering what is wrong with Princess Aiko succeeding to the throne.
Although traditionalists argue that Japan should not sever “the unbroken imperial line,” their logic is flawed, Okawa argues, because Aiko – who is 20 this year – has just been is a direct descendant of the emperor who was just older than her cousin Hisahito.
Accuracy standards
Hideya Kawanishi, an associate professor of Japanese history at Nagoya University, warned that the panel’s proposals “would not fundamentally solve the problem”.
Some married women might not want to live a limited regal life, while adoption by male members who grew up as ordinary citizens would be complicated, he said.
This issue has been debated for years – after Aiko was born, a government panel concluded in 2005 that imperial succession should be decided by age, not gender.
However, these discussions lost momentum after Hisahito was born in 2006, meaning the male bloodline could still continue.
The council’s latest report said it was necessary to discuss possible changes to the rules of succession in the future, but unlike 2005, did not use the word “queen”.
This means that for wives of male royalty like Hisahito, “there will be pressure to carry a son to maintain the lineage,” Kawanishi said.
Imperial women have long walked a difficult path in Japan.
Naruhito’s wife, Masako, a former senior diplomat, has struggled for years with a stress-related illness after joining the family, which some have put pressure on to give birth a male heir.
Younger royals are also subject to exacting standards.
Mako and her husband Kei Komuro, both 30 years old, are plagued by tabloid rumors about allegations that the Kei family is in financial trouble, leaving the former princess with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. .
Empresses are not an unfamiliar concept in Japan, with the imperial family itself believed to be descended from the legendary Sun goddess Amaterasu.
There have been as many as eight queens throughout history, although their rule is often temporary. The last, Gosakuramachi, ascended the throne about 250 years ago.
The imperial family’s divine status was abandoned after World War II following Japan’s militaristic sweep across Asia in the name of Emperor Hirohito.
Since 1947, the royal succession has been regulated by the Royal Household Act, and the issues surrounding it remain a delicate topic that is closely bound up with ideas of national identity. ethnicity.
Today, politicians are “afraid of changing the system” while they are in office, Kawanishi said.
But after Mako’s wedding gained a lot of attention, one way the debate could be pushed forward is “if the public becomes more interested in the topic and prompts the discussion.” , he say.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
