Welcome to issues in Japan.
The topic this time is the Succession to the Imperial Throne.
I would like tentatively to share the contents of the article by Mr. Katsuhisa Saito, a journalist, which was posted on February 21, 2022, with the title “What Will Happen to the Succession to the Imperial Throne (Part 1): The Experts' Meeting Draft Assuming a Flow of Events Leading up to 'Future Emperor' Prince Hisahito .”
In January 2022, the report of the expert panel on the succession to the Imperial Throne was explained to the representatives of each party, and the debate has moved to the Diet.
The report is based on the assumption that the line of succession will extend to Prince Hisahito, the eldest son of the Akishino family, and contains the following points in order to secure the ever-decreasing number of members of the Imperial Family.
(1) The female members of the Imperial Family will remain in the Imperial Family after marriage.
(2) Male lineage male members of the former Imperial Family will be adopted and returned to the Imperial Family.
(3) Male lineage males will be made the Imperial Family members directly by law.
The proposal for a "female emperor," which is highly supported by the people, was rejected, and the proposal to restore the former imperial family, which has been pointed out as a violation of the Constitution (discrimination based on family lineage), was adopted.
We will examine the problems in this series of articles.
●The Koizumi administration attempted to recognize a female emperor.
This is the first time that an expert panel on the Imperial Family has reported under the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) administration since 2005, when Junichiro Koizumi was in power.
At that time, a year before the birth of Prince Hisahito, there was no male member of the royal family to lead the Imperial Family in the future, and the conclusions were the exact opposite of the current one.
The gist of it is as follows.
1. It is extremely difficult to maintain a stable male line of succession to the Imperial Throne, which has continued since ancient times.
It is essential to pave the way for female emperors and female lineal emperors (emperors with maternal lineage to the emperor), and this will gain the support of a wide range of citizens.
2. (The order of succession to the throne should be) a system that gives priority to the direct descendants of the Emperor, without distinguishing between males and females, and that gives priority to the eldest child in order of age.
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