In Japan, the imperial line risks dying out due to lack of a male heir

“The stability of the royal succession is extremely important. Stabilizing the number of members of the imperial family is a particularly urgent issue,” warned the new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday October 4 in his general policy speech. Lawmakers should debate the urgency of finding a solution to the lack of imperial heirs in Japan, he added, while only men can ascend the throne, under rules imposed since the mid-19th century and reinforced after the 1945 war.Criticizing the emperor, a tabooSince At the end of the Second World War, the emperor, who had divine status, no longer had any political role, but remained an important symbolic figure respected by all Japanese people. “At one time, emperors were like a pope and, at another, they were like a tsar. Now the emperor is like a king, says Asao Kure, a lecturer at Kyoto Sangyo University. But the emperor is emperor. Although it is one of the systems of (constitutional) monarchy existing elsewhere in the world, the emperor of Japan is singular. »And criticizing it is a taboo.The lack of eligible male heirs to the imperial throne is a reality known to all, since no boy has been born into the imperial family since 1965. Princess Masako, now empress, has “failed” to give birth to an heir to the throne with her husband Naruhito, but the couple had a daughter, Aiko, 22, who cannot accede to the throne under the Imperial Household Law, in force since 1947. Women must also leave the family when they marry a commoner. Today, only Emperor Naruhito’s nephew, Prince Hisahito, just 18 years old, can claim the throne. But the future of the imperial lineage is in limbo if he does not father at least one son. After years of procrastination and blockages imposed by powerful conservative deputies, a parliamentary commission began work in May on a possible relaxation of the rules of succession for a woman to access the throne. Japan has already had reigning empresses eight times. A recent survey by the Kyodo agency reveals that 90% of the population is in favor. In Japan, changes take time. One of the two solutions under study would be to allow princesses to remain in the imperial family after their marriage , so that their male descendants could join the order of succession. The second would consist of authorizing men from eleven branches of the imperial family, abolished by reforms following the Second World War, to join the order of succession via adoption. These two proposals were developed by a special committee of experts in 2021, who also recommended that the rules reserving succession for men be maintained at least until Prince Hisahito becomes emperor. But it might be too late if he were to die prematurely.



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