Japan's male-only succession rule means the emperor's teenage nephew and second in line, Prince Hisahito, will probably be the heir A popular princess drives support for having a female Japanese Emperor. But the country's first female prime minister opposes it.
The law now allows the adoption of male distant relatives aged over 15 back into the imperial family. Japan's parliament on Friday enacted changes to imperial succession rules, allowing male distant relatives to rejoin the imperial family and women to retain royal status after marrying commoners. The legislation, however, keeps the ban on female emperors despite opinion polls showing broad public support for allowing women to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Japan’s parliament approved on Friday a revised Imperial House Law to address the issue of the shrinking royal family, while retaining the long-standing male-only succession system, despite public support for female emperors. The first substantive revision to the 1947 law introduced two changes – permitting the adoption of males aged 15 and over from former branch families descended from emperors through the male line and allowing female members to retain their imperial status even after...
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