Japanese Imperial Family Today

    With regard to a stable succession to the throne, attention has been focused on the return to the Imperial Register of the former members of the Imperial Family who were deposed in 1947 after World War II. It is likely that they will have an opportunity to meet each other within the next few years.   At a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives on February 7, the government revealed that the Kikuei Fellowship, which consists of relatives of the Imperial Family, meets about once every five years. The most recent meeting was held on May 18, 2014, at the Higashi Residence in Akasaka Imperial Villa. He answered a question from Fumitake Fujita, Secretary General of the Japan Restoration Association.   The Kikuei Fellowship is a voluntary organization run by members of the IF and the 11 former IF members who left the Imperial Resister in October 1947, and the last time it was held was to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Emperor. ...

  The abstract of this article is as follows:   -The Japanese Imperial Family is the oldest royal family in the world, and therefore the most prestigious royal family in the world.(laughs) -The Emperor/imperial family is recognized for its value in leaving behind a person who will carry on the tradition. (Therefore, the succession to the throne by male lineal descendants should be preserved.) (And therefore the return of male lineal descendants of the former IF to the IF is justified.)   Note: The blogger does not agree with the above.   Recently, "return of former members of IF to IF" has become a keyword in this blog. Although I am not in favor of this idea, the Japanese government, with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as the governing party, seems to be moving in that direction. Since there is only one direct successor to the throne, Prince Hisahito, it is said that the return of the former members of IF to the Imperial Household is esse...

  On January 27, "Shukan Shincho" published a feature article with the following headline. “Princess Aiko's potential bridgegroom ranked No. 1 by IHA! 　 What is the "Kaya Family," the most likely candidate for the return of the male members of the former IF to the Imperial Register?” The import of the article is that among the existing members of the former imperial family, the Kaya family, which has two unmarried boys, is attracting attention among those involved as the "most promising candidate" to return to IF as a husband of Her Imperial Highness Princess Toshinomiya Aiko.   At the end of last year, the government's advisory panel compiled a report on measures to secure the number of members of the IF. (1) The female members of the IF will retain their status as members of the IF after marriage. (2) Male members of the former imperial family will return to the imperial family as adopted children.   Of these, (2) the former imp...

  As someone who has run an English-language blog on Japan's Imperial Family, I sincerely hope that the contents of this article will attract widespread interest not only in Japan but also abroad.   The main points of this article are as follows. The government report on the stable succession to the throne has the following problems: (1) The situation in which Prince Hisahito is the sole heir to the throne is extremely dangerous. (2) The design of the system in which female members of the Imperial Family will remain in the IF after marriage, but their spouses and children will remain citizens will further raise the hurdle for female members of the IF, including Her Imperial Highness Princess Toshinomiya Aiko, to marry. 3) The proposal to allow male members of the former IF to immediately become members of the IF, means that their spouses and children will become members of the IF, which is a more male-dominated system than that of the female members of the Imperi...

  Mr. Taro Aso   The ruling Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) Secretary-General Toshimitsu Mogi announced at a meeting of the party's General Affairs Council on January 18 that the party will establish a forum to discuss measures for the succession to the throne, following Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's report to the Diet on the results of an expert panel's study on a stable succession to the throne. It will be chaired by LDP's Vice President Taro Aso, with Mr. Mogi acting as chairman. Mr. Tatsuo Fukuda, Chairman of the Board of Governors, made the announcement at a press conference after the meeting.   Mr. Aso is the elder brother of Nobuko, the wife of the late Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a cousin of former Emperor Akihito. Nobuko is known for her support of female emperors, as evidenced by the fact that she composed a poem about Her Imperial Highness Princess Toshinomiya Aiko at the last poetry festival. Mr. Aso himself is also said to be flexible in his stance on...

    On January 12, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Hiroyuki Hosoda, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Akiko Sando, Speaker of the House of Councillors, and others in the Diet, and handed them a report compiled by a government advisory panel on the stable succession to the throne. The report focuses on two proposals to secure the dwindling number of members of the Imperial Family: (1) female members of the IF should remain in the IF after marriage, and (2) male members of the former IF should return to the IF as adopted children.   Unfortunately, the report does not go into drastic measures such as the pros and cons of a female or female lineage emperor. This is due to the fact that there are strong calls among conservatives to maintain the male line. There is also a large gap between the positions of the various parties, and with the Upper House elections coming up in the summer, there is a risk that discussions in the Diet will be postponed.   ...

    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 ...

    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...

It was reported this month that there is a plan within the government to keep the Emperor's family and the four existing imperial families alive as a way to secure the number of members of the imperial family.   On the 6th, Kyodo News reported that based on the draft of the advisory panel that called for the female members of the Imperial Family to maintain the imperial register after marriage, it is assumed that Emperor Naruhito's only daughter, Aiko (19), will remain with the Emperor's family and that the second daughter of the Akishino family, Kako (26), will take over the Akishino family. According to the report, since it is directly related to the status and role of the female members of the IF after their marriage, it is assumed that the content will give maximum consideration to their wishes. A person involved in the matter revealed this on the 5th.   The aim is to maintain the "current system" of the Imperial Family and to ensure that the Imperia...

    At the eighth meeting of the advisory panel (chaired by Atsushi Seike, former president of Keio University), which discusses measures to ensure a stable succession to the throne, it was confirmed that the panel will narrow down its discussion to two proposals as measures to reduction of the number of members of the imperial family: the establishment of a "female monarchy" so that female members of the IF can maintain their status as members of the IF after marriage, and the acquisition of the IF by male members of the former IF. Mr. Seike told reporters after the meeting. https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/18c9859cb673eca4263d4fc8863fee4bff192a4d   In other words, the accession to the throne of the female emperor by Aiko, the daughter of the current emperor, has been postponed for the time being.   　 Based on this policy, the advisory panel plans to compile a report to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Based on the report, the government will report the...

  What is Female Monarchy?   The Female monarchy is a monarchy of the Japanese Imperial Family that is headed by a female member of the Imperial Family (an imperial prince or queen), which does not exist currently.  Since this spring, a government advisory panel of  has been deliberating on the establishment of a female monarchy. If a female monarchy is to be established, it could include Mako Akishino and Komuro, whose marriage has been postponed, and many people are skeptical about the idea.   Under the current Imperial Household Law, only male emperors are allowed to be the head of the Imperial Family, and female emperors are not allowed. In addition, the Imperial Household Law assumes a male lineage of the Imperial Family, as it stipulates that "if a female member of the Imperial Family marries a male other than the Emperor or the Imperial Family, she ceases to be a member of the Imperial Family (Article 12)," and as a result, it completely exclu...