Japan confronts reality of world without Emperor Akihito: not enough royals to take his place
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has been mulling legal changes following the emperor’s rare video message last summer indicating his desire to step down due to his advanced age
A panel set up by the Japanese government to debate whether Emperor Akihito should be permitted to abdicate has gone beyond its remit by calling for urgent discussions on how to solve the problem of the nation’s shrinking Imperial family.
But the draft, obtained by the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, also calls for the government and the Japanese public to consider ways to “counter a decrease in the number of Imperial family members,” the paper stated.
The matter “is becoming an issue that can no longer be delayed,” the paper quoted the panel as saying.
The panel has offered no specifics of what should be open for consideration, but one solution would be to permit a woman to assume the throne. Alternatively, laws could be introduced to reverse the decision taken in 1945 by the occupying Allied forces to effectively lop of the branches of the imperial tree to leave a single imperial line.