Shelving 'Female Emperors' and 'Emperors of Female Lineage': The Sins of the Advisory Panel
The advisory panel on the stable succession to the
throne held on December 22 decided on a final report based on two proposals:
(1) female members of the Imperial Family will remain in the Imperial Family
after marriage, and (2) male members of the former Imperial Family will return
to the Imperial Family as adopted children: that once again shelved the issue of a female
emperor and a female line of emperors, which is desired by the majority of the
Japanese people, thus making the issue of the succession to the throne even
more serious. The following is a quote from an article in the December 15
edition of President Online that I feel hits the nail on the head.
The sins of the expert panel, which
"ran away" from the issue of a stable succession to the throne, will
make it even more difficult for Princess Aiko to marry
With the departure of Mako, the eldest
daughter of the Akishino family, from the imperial family register after her
marriage in October this year, there are now six members of the Imperial Family
under the age of 40, of which only the only son of the Akishino family, Prince Hisahito,
is male. In December, the government's advisory panel, which is examining how
to ensure a stable succession to the throne, compiled the outline of its final
report, but Akinori Takamori, a Shinto scholar and researcher on the imperial
family, said, "The panel is not examining the most important issues and is
shifting the discussion. --.
Shelve Consideration of Stable Succession
to the Throne, which is Crucial
On December 6, this year, the government
held an advisory panel (chaired by Atsushi Seike) to discuss the state of the
imperial family system, and approved the draft of the report, which had been
suspended for a while since July but resumed on November 30. The meeting, which
has been held 12 times since March, is now reaching its final stage.
Unfortunately, however, the conference is
likely to end without addressing any of the issues it was supposed to address.
The "concrete measures" for
overcoming the crisis of the Imperial Family, which is the axis of the report's
framework, are the following two proposals.
(1) Make it possible for the princesses to
retain their status as members of the Imperial Family after marriage.
(2) Adoption, which is not allowed for the
Imperial Family, should be made possible, and male lineage males who belong to
the Imperial line (among the common people) should be made the Imperial Family.
There is also a proposal (3) to make the
male line of the imperial line (among the people) the imperial family directly
by law, but this is just a preliminary position in case the above two proposals
do not work out.
However, all of these are merely measures
aimed at "securing the number of the Imperial Family" for the time
being (Blogger's note: NOT a stable succession to the throne.)
Ignore Parliamentary Resolutions and Change
the Subject.
Why was the Council established in the
first place? It was in response to the government's request in the
supplementary resolution to the Special Law on the Imperial Household Law,
which made it possible for His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus to abdicate, that
the government should "promptly" consider "various issues to
enable a stable succession to the throne" and "the establishment of a
female imperial family”. That is why the official name of the council is the
"Advisory Council on the 'Supplementary Resolution to the Special Law on
the Imperial Household Law Concerning the Abdication of the Emperor, etc.”
Nevertheless, the panel is trying to
"postpone" the solution to the problem by shelving the study on the
stable succession of the throne, which is the key issue requested by the Diet,
and replacing it with another theme, "securing the number of members of
the Imperial Family," which is not mentioned in the supplementary
resolution at all. I don't think this is a very sincere attitude.
In light of the principle of democracy, the
fact that the panel, which is merely a private advisory body of the government
not based on laws and regulations, neglects the resolution of the Diet, which
is the representative body of the people, must be puzzling. Isn't this behavior
a denial of the purpose of the panel's establishment and the significance of
its existence?
Moreover, both of the above two proposals
presented by the panel are unreasonable and unrealistic, even as a short-term
measure to "secure the number of the Imperial Family. Let's take a closer
look at this point.
The "Impossibility" of the
Imperial family members and the Common People Living in One Household.
First, let's discuss (1).
The previous supplementary resolution
named the "establishment of a female imperial family" as an issue for
consideration. The "women's imperial family" envisioned here is a
plan in which the princesses would retain their status as members of the
Imperial Family after their marriage, and of course, like the male members of
the Imperial Family, the princesses would be the head of the family, and her
spouse and children would also be able to acquire the status of members of the
Imperial Family.
However, this is not the case. The spouse
and children would have the status of citizens. This would create an
unprecedented household in which the imperial family and the common people
would live in one household, with the princesses registered in the Imperial
Register as members of the imperial family, while their spouses and children
would be registered in the family register as citizens. Isn't this too strange
a plan?
In this case, I wonder if the consent of
the Imperial Household Council would be required for the marriage.
Under the Constitution of Japan, marriage
is based "solely on the consent of both sexes" (Article 24, Paragraph
1). However, for the marriage of the Emperor and male members of the Imperial
Family, the consent of the Imperial Household Council is exceptionally required
because both the spouse and the children will have the status of members of the
Imperial Family (Article 10 of the Imperial Household Law).
Therefore, it is unreasonable to make an
exception to the Constitution in cases where the spouse or children will not
have the status of the Imperial Family. However, it cannot be denied that a
system in which the Imperial Household Council cannot be involved at all in the
marriage of the princesses, who will continue to hold the status of the
Imperial Family, is fraught with anxiety.
(Blogger's note: This means that if, for
example, Mako Akishino were to marry Kei Komuro and establish a female Imperial
family, it would be impossible to investigate Komuro's character and
surroundings as in the recent case. This means that no matter what kind of
gold-digger may be attached to the Princess, they cannot be eliminated.)
In other words, the plan for the imperial
family member and the common people to live in a single household is itself unreasonable.
The unnatural system makes it difficult
for female members of the Imperial Family to marry
Moreover, if your spouse and children are
citizens, they will naturally retain their freedom of activity in politics,
economics, religion, etc., which the Constitution guarantees to citizens.
However, can this be reconciled with the
position of the Emperor and the Imperial Family, who are described in the
Constitution as "the symbol of the Japanese nation," "the symbol
of the unity of the Japanese people" (Article 1), and "have no
authority over national affairs" (Article 4, Paragraph 1)?
It is difficult to imagine that the
political, economic, and religious activities of the spouses and children of
the inner princes and queens who are confined to the status of members of the
Imperial Family would be perceived as completely unrelated to the Imperial
Family. If this were to happen, there would be a risk of undermining the
constitutional position of the Emperor and the Imperial Family.
(Blogger's note: Mako Akishino, when she
was a member of the Imperial Family, intervened in the debt problems of her
fiancé Kei Komuro's mother, which became a problem, and something similar could
happen.)
However, on the other hand, it would be a
violation of the Constitution to interfere with the freedom and restrict the
rights of spouses and children who are citizens on the basis of this.
Furthermore, under such an unnatural
system, it would be extremely difficult for Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko
and other members of the Imperial Family to marry.
In light of the above, I don't think that
(1) can be adopted as a system at all.
“Discrimination on the Basis of Family Origin"
Violates the Constitution
So what about (2)?
This would be even more unreasonable.
After all, from among the citizens registered in the family register, only
those of a certain bloodline (male lineage belonging to the imperial line)
would be given special treatment, as they would be able to acquire the status
of royalty through adoption. It must be said that this is a violation of the
principle of equality of the people in the Constitution.
Article 14, Section 1 of the Constitution
states as follows
"All citizens are equal under the law
and shall not be discriminated against in political, economic, or social
relations on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status, or family origin.
In light of this article, (2) would fall
under the category of "discrimination based on lineage (family
lineage)," as only "male members of the imperial lineage" are
allowed to adopt children, while other citizens are not allowed to do so.
This was already pointed out by Tsunetoshi
Shishido, a constitutional scholar and professor at the Graduate School of the
University of Tokyo, who attended a hearing of the conference (May 10, 2021).
“If the law (Imperial Household Law or
Special Law) limits the qualifications for adoption to male lineage males who
belong to the imperial lineage (and are not members of the royal family),… it
may constitute discrimination based on family origin among the general public.”
He said.
Is Adoption Realistic?
The conference also seems to be aware of
this problem. In the "Research and Study" section of the secretariat,
we find the following statement, albeit in the euphemistic manner of a
government official.
As long as the law clearly stipulates,
there may be a problem of equality between the citizens who are defined as
adoptable and other citizens.
In order to avoid this, one of the options
is to "legislate to allow adoptions by seizing the individual opportunity
of adoptions," instead of adopting permanent measures. “Since only certain
parties with the same intention to adopt would be eligible, there would be no
problem of equality among the people.” It said.
However, even if "certain
parties" agree on the intention to adopt a child, what if the person to be
adopted is not a "male of the male line belonging to the Imperial
line"? If the adoption is limited to "the imperial line ......",
then it is objectively "discrimination based on family origin" (not a
subjective issue of "sense of equality").
On the other hand, if there is no such
limitation, the system will become one in which any person who does not belong
to the "imperial line" (if it is limited to "males," it
will also be "discrimination based on gender" as long as the
treatment is among "citizens") can acquire the status of the Imperial
Family through adoption.
Furthermore, from the perspective of
"generality" (applied to an unspecified number of people in an
unspecified number of cases), which is essential for laws, it would be
difficult to approve a legislative measure only for individual adoptions.
In the first place, there is the question
of whether we can expect the Imperial Family and the citizen to agree to the
adoption.
Why Did the Panel Get into the Cul-de-Sac?
Both (1) and (2) lack validity and are
questionable in terms of feasibility.
Furthermore, these measures will not
improve the situation where the succession of the Imperial Throne by the
Imperial line will come to a standstill unless the marriage partner of Prince Hisahito,
the only son of the Akishino family, always produces a male child. If the
unimaginable pressure for his marriage partner is left unaddressed, the hurdle
to marriage may become hopelessly high.
How did the panel end up in such a
cul-de-sac? The reason is clear. As I mentioned at the beginning of this
article, it is simply because it has run away from its original task of
finding a way to ensure a stable succession to the throne.
The system of concubine, which had long
supported the "male line" of succession, has disappeared, and
children born to women other than the legitimate wives of the Emperor and the
Imperial Family (illegitimate children and illegitimate line) are no longer
eligible to succeed to the throne. In spite of this, they still maintain the
cramped "male line" of succession qualification that has been in
place since the Meiji era. This is what makes the future of the succession to
the throne so dangerous.
In other words, the very nature of the
current rules of the Imperial Household Law is the root of the problem.
No Stable Succession Expected without ‘Female
Emperor’ and ‘Emperor of Female Lineage’
Nevertheless, the panel has fallen into its
own trap by deciding that the current order of succession, which is based on
the premise that the rules should be reviewed, "must not be allowed to
slip" (according to the July interim report).
However, His Imperial Highness Prince
Akishino, the first in line of succession to the throne, is only five years
younger than His Majesty the Emperor, and it has been reported that he himself
mentioned the possibility of declining the accession to the throne at his
advanced age, and the Imperial Household Agency has not denied it. Since this
is legally possible (Article 3 of the Imperial Household Law; Itsuo Sonobe,
"Introduction to the Law of the Imperial Household"), there is a
possibility that the order of succession will be changed, irrespective of the
revision of the system.
If the goal is to ensure a stable
succession to the throne, there should be no other way forward but to take
steps to revise the Imperial Household Law to allow for a female or female line
of emperors. The conclusions of the report of the
"Expert Committee on the Imperial Household Law" established by the
Junichiro Koizumi cabinet were as follows:
"The committee reached the conclusion
that it is necessary to extend the qualifications for succession to the throne
to women and female members of the Imperial Family.
"Considering the future of our
country, it is essential to open the way to a female or female line of emperors
in order to maintain a stable succession to the throne.
Once the official report based on the
outline approved this time is submitted to the government, the stage will
eventually shift to the Diet. How far will the Diet be able to return to the
mainstream of the debate there? The true value of the Diet will be tested.
by Akinori Takamori
Shinto scholar and researcher of the
Imperial Household
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