The Plight of Japan’s Imperial Family

Japanese Emperor Naruhito at the opening of the Diet’s 2020 session. (Photo: AP News/Koji Sasahara)

For years, Japan’s imperial family has struggled to find heirs. Now, the Japanese government hopes to reform the system, and in doing so, preserve a lineage that claims to have stood for over 2,000 years.

On Friday, the island nation’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) heralded the creation of a new team to explore ways of ensuring a smooth line of succession to the imperial throne. According to officials, the group will be under the direct leadership of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and will seek to revive the issue in the Diet, Japan’s parliamentary body, as a topic of debate. In a speech, Kishida expressed his hope for “active discussions,” and urged the development of a solution “at an early date.”

Much of the current issues faced by the Japanese imperial family surrounds how its system treats women. Twelve of its 17 members are women, who cannot assume the Chrysanthemum Throne under Japanese law. The law also states that women who marry commoners lose their status as members of the family, further shrinking the ranks. Princess Aiko, daughter of current Emperor Naruhito, is thus ineligible, making the emperor’s brother, Crown Prince Akishino, next in line, followed by his 17-year-old son Prince Hisahito. Under these rules, if Hisahito were to take the throne and fail to produce male children, there would be no clear successor to the world’s oldest remaining monarchy.

Japan’s Princess Aiko at her Dec. 2021 coming-of-age ceremony at the Imperial Palace. (Photo: AP News/Yuichi Yamazaki)

Japan’s reckoning with the topic has only intensified in recent years. In December 2021, a panel addressing the succession crisis proposed two possible solutions: either allowing female members to retain their status after marriage outside of the family or readmitting the collateral branches of the family, which were removed under United States occupation post-World War II. The panel declared that male succession must be ensured, a viewpoint many conservative LDP members have supported, despite Japan having had eight female emperors in the past; others have expressed more openness to the idea. These members tend to favor the latter plan, even having submitted a proposal along those lines to late former PM Shinzo Abe. However, this plan has been unable to garner much public support. In remarks earlier this week, Kishida has called for “a consensus of the legislature,” a statement which many have taken as a sign that he fears a divided party.

In spite of its government’s discord, the Japanese public has expressed strong support for a female emperor. An event held in June on the topic of female succession, planned for 500 people, garnered over 1000 applications. The event’s organizer, Kobayashi Yoshinori, is a strong supporter of 21-year-old Princess Aiko’s right to the throne, even having created a manga on the subject entitled Aiko Tennō ron (Princess Aiko as Emperor). He attributes much of the lack of progress thus far to a strong conservative lobbying effort, and believes that most people in Japan do support the cause. The data may appear to back him up: a 2022 poll showed over 70% of respondents in favor of the cause.

The cover of Kobayashi Yoshinori’s pro-female succession manga Aiko Tenno ron. (Photo: Nippon/Fusōsha)

International affairs would also seem to suggest momentum on monarchical reform. In June, Naruhito visited Indonesia and met with Sultan Hamengku Buwono X of the Yogyakarta Sultanate, a royal body that has also experienced succession woes. The sultan, however, took action back in 2015, decreeing his daughter’s right to the status of next in line, although he faced opposition from other family members for doing so. And in 2013, the United Kingdom passed its Succession to the Crown Act, ending its system of male primogeniture. As apathy regarding the imperial family grows among Japanese youth, activists point to these developments as a sign that times must change.

Expanding on his views, Kobayashi noted that the law forbidding women from taking the throne was only enacted in 1889, proving that this is not a traditional institution. He believes that the advent of gender equality makes the question simple: “...why should Princess Aiko, a direct descendant of His Majesty the Emperor, be deprived of her role simply because she is a woman?”