Japan relaxes royal succession rules – but ban on female emperors remains

Japan’s parliament has approved a bill to relax the rules of the imperial succession amid concerns over the declining size of the imperial family.

A bill approved by the upper house on Friday would allow the royal family to adopt distant male relatives over the age of 15 and allow women to retain their royal status after marrying outside the family.

But despite widespread public support for a female emperor, it does not change the law that prohibits women from ascending to the throne, meaning that the current emperor’s only child, Princess Aiko, is still ineligible to inherit the throne.

The bill passed the House last week and will go through the final legislative process before the changes take effect.

Japan has the world’s oldest continuous hereditary monarchy, with a lineage believed to stretch back more than 2,600 years.

The current heir to the throne is 60-year-old Fumihito, the emperor’s younger brother.

Fumihito’s son, 19-year-old Prince Hisahito, is second.

The third and last eligible for the throne is the emperor’s 90-year-old uncle.

If there is no amendment to the law, the line of succession will end if Prince Hisahito does not have a son.

However, according to the new calculation, 11 male descendants of former imperial branches can be reintroduced into the family. These branches of the family were removed after the Second World War.

Female members of the imperial family may retain their royal authority if they marry commoners. They have already been made to leave their ranks and leave their families – ie What did Princess Mako do in 2021? To marry her college sweetheart.