Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Japanese Crown Prince Akishino on Thursday said he had “mixed feelings” about the government’s revision to the Imperial House Law, which keeps the rule that only men in the paternal line can become emperor. Speaking at a news conference ahead of a trip to Paraguay later this month to mark the 90th anniversary of Japanese emigration to the South American country, he said, “I believe there is no difference between men and women” in carrying out the imperial family’s roles in response to social needs.
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His remarks came weeks after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s conservative government revised the law in a move that has drawn criticism as anachronistic and sexist. The change has also sparked outrage and concern that it could further weaken Japan’s already shrinking imperial family, with critics saying the insistence on male-only succession ignores the burden and feelings of the royals.
As a member of the imperial family, Akishino is not expected to make political statements, and his comments were measured. “I have mixed feelings about it, and it’s rather strange if I don’t,” he said when asked about the government’s decision. He added that it “is a difficult question, and the reality is that I can’t talk about it”. He also said, “The society needs to keep making progress, and I believe it is important for people with different views to keep thinking what’s best.”
Under the current rule, Emperor Naruhito’s 24-year-old daughter, Princess Aiko, cannot succeed to the throne because she is a woman, despite being highly popular and widely backed by many Japanese as his successor. The line of succession passes to Akishino, then to Prince Hisahito, and after him to the emperor’s 90-year-old uncle. The revised law is intended to reinforce the principle of the imperial bloodline, but it puts aside the emperor’s daughter. It allows princesses to keep their status and continue royal duties if they marry a commoner, though their husbands and children will remain non-royals.
A more contentious change allows unmarried male descendants aged 15 or older from distant imperial relatives to be adopted into the immediate royal family to father heirs, but only those in the paternal line can be considered. The revisions have triggered protests from people who see them as an attempt to prevent Princess Aiko from ruling and to defend discrimination against women and a patriarchal system.
Japan has had eight female monarchs in its history, the last being Empress Gosakuramachi, who ruled from 1762 to 1770. Male-only succession in the paternal line was written into law for the first time in the 1890 Imperial House Law, during a period when Japan promoted patriarchal systems, and much of that was carried into the current 1947 law. There is also concern that the government’s push could unsettle the legacy of former Emperor Akihito, who abdicated in 2019 after trying to bring what had been seen as an aloof monarchy closer to the people, an approach later followed by Naruhito and his family.
Akishino’s comments therefore come at a sensitive moment, as debate over succession, the place of Princess Aiko and the future shape of the imperial family continues in Japan.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
