Women to Stay in Imperial Family after Marriage: Advisory Panel Draft
On December 6, the government's advisory panel (chaired by Atsushi Seike, former president of Keio University), which is discussing a stable succession to the throne, confirmed the outline of its final report. As concrete measures to cope with the decline in the number of members of the Imperial Family, a report will be compiled by the end of this year, and the government will report to the Diet on two proposals: (1) female members of the IF will remain in the IF after marriage, and (2) male members of the former IF will return to the IF as adopted children.
At the meeting, they presented two proposals for securing the number of members of the IF, and in the event that they still could not secure the number of members, they proposed that male members of the former IF be made members of the IF directly by law, rather than through adoption. From the viewpoint of protecting the succession of the throne by male lineal descendants, the meeting did not touch on the pros and cons of a female or female emperor, for which there is deep-rooted opposition within the LDP.
The Imperial Household Law stipulates that the throne can only be inherited by "male lineage men" who have paternal lineage to the emperor. Currently, the three eligible heirs are, in order, Prince Akishino (56), Prince Hisahito (15), the eldest son of Prince Akishino, and Prince Hitachi (86), the younger brother of the Emperor.
It is also essential that Prince Hisahito,
who is effectively the only one who will be carrying on the next generation and
who will succeed to the throne, have a baby boy. "The succession of the
throne to Prince Hisahito, the eldest son of Prince and Princess Akishino, must
not be allowed to go unchallenged." said Mr. Seike in the meeting while after the meeting, he told reporters, "Who will be
eligible to succeed to the throne is an issue to be considered in the future.
The advisory panel was set up by the government in response to the Diet's enactment of a special law on the abdication of the Emperor in 2017, which called for a supplementary resolution to consider and report on issues such as ensuring a stable succession to the throne and the creation of a female imperial family. Discussions have continued on the premise that the current order of succession to the throne will not be changed.
Comments
Post a Comment