Japan’s lack of royal successors is an ‘urgent’ issue, says new PM

Shigeru Ishiba may consider amending law that does not allow women to ascend to throne

Japan’s new prime minister has singled out the emperor’s shortage of heirs as an “urgent issue” and called on politicians to find a solution before the imperial family runs out of men to assume the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Shigeru Ishiba, who was sworn in on Tuesday by Emperor Naruhito, made a speech on Friday outlining his government’s policies. He said: “Stable royal succession is extremely important. Stabilising the number of members of the imperial family is a particularly urgent issue.”
By law, women are not allowed to inherit the throne in Japan, meaning that Princess Aiko, 22, the only child of the emperor, cannot become empress.
At present, first in line to the throne is the emperor’s younger brother, Prince Akishino, whose 18-year-old son Prince Hisahito is also an heir.
One of Prince Akishino’s daughters, Princess Mako, forfeited her royal titles when she married a “commoner” – her university boyfriend, Kei Komuro, in 2021. The couple now live in New York.
In his speech to parliament, Mr Ishiba also said that Japan’s low overall birth rate was “a challenge to the very foundations of the country – a quiet emergency, so to speak.”
Japan’s fertility rate hit a new low of 1.2 births per woman, far lower than the so-called “replacement rate” of two.
The succession crisis in the royal family has long been contentious in Japan, where opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority support changes to the law to permit a female head of state.
One of the most recent polls indicated that nearly 90 per cent of ordinary Japanese people are in favour of having an empress.
A number of governments have set up panels to debate the issue and come up with recommendations, but their proposals have always been blocked by an influential conservative faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that refuses to countenance the idea of an empress.
Mr Ishiba has not spoken openly about his own position on the future of the imperial family but conservatives are likely to be concerned that he could seek to win over voters in the Oct 27 general election by suggesting a change in the law.
“He has not spelled out his personal feelings, but my impression is that he is not in the ultra-Right camp on this issue,” said Hiromi Murakami, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
“After the election, I expect he will set up another committee to examine the issue,” she said. “But if Mr Ishiba appoints the members of the committee, that could give them more freedom to come up with some different conclusions.” 
The conservative bloc is unlikely to surrender easily however, with the Right-wing Sankei newspaper running a series of editorials this week declaring: “To ensure stable succession to the throne, it is necessary to ensure succession through the patrilineal line.
“This is an issue that shapes the country’s very foundation and provides a test of the true value of conservatism.”
Dismissing the position of the main opposition party, it added that proposed changes are “a dangerous argument that could lead to a female emperor, which would mean the end of the imperial line as we know it.”
The most recent panel to examine the matter issued a report in May that suggested two possible solutions. One was to permit female members of the imperial family to retain their royal status after they marry instead of becoming commoners who are not, as a consequence, able to produce a male heir to the throne.
The second suggestion was to reinstate branches of the family that were lopped off shortly after Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World War as the Occupation authorities sought to dramatically reduce the influence of the emperor.
Adopting those branches back into the imperial family would give it a far larger pool of descendants of the emperor and a greater likelihood of a male heir.
Hardliners managed to block further discussion on both approaches.