Japan relaxes royal succession rules - but ban on female emperors remain
Summary
Japan's parliament has passed a law to ease rules about who can be part of the royal family. The changes allow the imperial family to adopt distant male relatives and let female members keep their royal status after marriage, but women still cannot become emperor.Key Facts
- The new law was approved by Japan's upper house and earlier by the lower house.
- It permits adoption of male relatives over 15 from former imperial branches removed after World War II.
- Women in the royal family can now retain their royal status after marrying outside the family.
- The law does not allow women to succeed to the throne, so Princess Aiko, the emperor’s only child, cannot become emperor.
- Japan’s imperial family is the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy, over 2,600 years old.
- The current order of succession includes the emperor’s younger brother, his son, and then the emperor’s uncle.
- The law aims to address the problem of having very few male heirs in the imperial family.
- Opinion polls show strong public support for allowing a female emperor, but conservative leaders support limiting succession to males only.
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