Japan faces the dilemma of an imperial family without heirs
Crown Prince Akishino mediated his son Hisahito and daughter Mako
Japanese authorities are reconsidering forcing Princess Mako to relinquish her title when she married a non-royal in 2021, as they seek to overcome the dilemma of preserving the imperial family, which lacks grandchildren.
The rule requires that only males ascend the Chrysanthemum throne, which significantly limits the number of potential successors to Emperor Naruhito, 61, at a time when experts believe that the possibility of openness to women is still very far, although opinion polls confirm the openness of the Japanese to women taking the "position". , which has no longer had any political role since 1947, but it wears a highly symbolic character.
By tradition, his nephew Prince Hisahito, brother of Mako no, and his only daughter, Princess Aiko, will ascend the throne.
If Hisahito, who is now 15, has no children, the imperial family, which dates back more than 2,600 years, faces a royal dilemma.
The authorities are seeking to increase the number of candidates for the throne.
A commission tasked with examining the issue put forward two proposals in December: allowing women to remain within the imperial family when they marry commoners, and allowing men from 11 branches of the imperial family, abolished by post-war reforms, to return to the line of succession through adoption.
But the commission recommends that the rules that preserve male succession be preserved at least until Prince Hisahito ascends the throne.
After the birth of Princess Aiko, a direct descendant of the emperor and the eldest of her cousin Hisahito, the issue of not severing the imperial line was raised, and the commission held in 2005 that the order of succession should be determined by age, not gender.
But the momentum of this controversy waned after Hisahito's birth in 2006, which temporarily settled the case.
The last report did not use the phrase "female emperor".
This means that there will always be pressure to have boys in order to maintain the proportions.
However, women have ascended the chrysanthemum throne eight times in Japanese history, most recently Go-Sakuramachi, who ruled about 250 years ago.
But their succession to power was often temporary.
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