Japan's Parliament Enshrines Male-Only Succession For Shrinking Imperial Family

Japan's parliament enacted a historic revision to the Imperial House Law, insisting that only paternal-lineage men can become emperor on Friday. Even as the imperial family continues to shrink and public support grows for allowing female succession, according to an AP report.

The revisions include provisions to allow the adoption of distant male relatives to father future heirs and to permit princesses to keep their royal status after marrying commoners. However, royal watchers and experts fear the new measures could doom the 1,500-year-old hereditary institution by insisting that only men can be emperor, sparking worry about the shrinking, fast-aging imperial family.

Emperor Naruhito's 24-year-old daughter, Princess Aiko, is hugely popular, and many Japanese want her to be his successor, but she is ineligible because she is a woman. Japan's male-only succession rule means the line must move to the emperor's younger brother, Crown Prince Akishino, then to his 19-year-old nephew Prince Hisahito. Next in line after him is the emperor's 90-year-old uncle.

In an imperial family that places a premium on male royal babies, Hisahito is the first such boy to be born in four decades. Only five of the 16 adults are men in the imperial family, there are no children.

Prime Minister's Stance And Critics

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other conservatives insist the male bloodline is "the only source of the emperor's authority and legitimacy." While an emperor's mother can be a commoner, as is the case with the current one, only boys born to men with royal blood can be heirs to the throne, according to the Imperial House Law, which dates to 1947.

"It's a declaration to prevent female monarchs … and to defend the male-lineage at all costs," Hideya Kawanishi, a Nagoya University expert on monarchy, told the AP. "They cannot say it's male chauvinism, so they call it tradition."

The revisions have led to protests from Japanese who see the government efforts as meant to eliminate Aiko from ruling and to justify discrimination against women and a patriarchal system. "It's very ironic that the first female prime minister herself is the leading proponent of the obsession with male-succession," Chizuko Ueno, a prominent feminist scholar, wrote recently, referring to Takaichi.

Imperial Family's Uncertain Future

Because of the male-only succession rules and the dismissal of princesses who marry commoners, the monarchy after Hisahito is "extremely unstable," former Imperial Household Agency chief Shingo Haketa told Kyodo News recently.

Historians say the male-only system is unworkable today, as Japan more broadly faces a fast-aging, dwindling population. It only worked in the past because concubines produced half the emperors until about 100 years ago, when the practice ended under Naruhito's great-grandfather, Emperor Taisho.

There was a government proposal in 2005 to allow female monarchs, but it was scrapped following Hisahito's birth. Naruhito's two male heirs are his 60-year-old brother, Crown Prince Akishino, who is only six years younger than the emperor and has reportedly said he would be too old to serve, and Hisahito, Akishino's 19-year-old son. Third in line is Naruhito's uncle, Prince Hitachi, who is 90.

Adoption Of Distant Relatives And Princess Provisions

The more controversial measure allows unmarried male descendants, aged 15 or older, of distant imperial relatives but only of paternal lineage to be adopted into the royal family. Fifty-one members from 11 branch families renounced their royal status in 1947, mainly to ease the postwar financial burden on the monarchy. These people are at least 36 generations removed from Naruhito because they split from a common male-line ancestor 600 years ago, the AP reported.

There is criticism of what some see as the government's extraordinary efforts to make sure that male royals are producing male emperors. "Who wants the son of an adoptee who nobody knows to be emperor instead of Aiko?" asked Yoshinori Kobayashi, a cartoonist campaigning for Aiko's succession.

Five single princesses, including Aiko and her popular cousin Kako, 31, may be affected by the other main revision, which would allow them to keep their royal status and continue serving official duties if they marry commoners, although their spouse and children wouldn't be accepted as royals.

Aiko's elder cousin Mako renounced her royal status and moved to New York after marrying her college boyfriend, a commoner who now is a lawyer. The move was largely seen as her attempt to flee from the restrained imperial life, according to the AP.