Japan Diet Leaders Present Draft Proposal on Imperial Family

Tokyo, June 8 (Jiji Press)–The leaders and vice leaders of both chambers of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, presented their draft proposal Monday on measures to secure a sufficient number of Imperial Family members as part of efforts to ensure stable Imperial succession. The draft, which would represent a consensus of the country’s legislative branch if adopted, was shown at a meeting with 13 political parties and parliamentary groups held at the official residence of the speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower Diet chamber. The Diet leaders plan to hold another meeting Wednesday to formalize the proposal for submission to the government. “We hope to reach a conclusion Wednesday,” Lower House Speaker Eisuke Mori told a press conference after the Monday meeting, suggesting that he will swiftly deliver the proposal to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. At Monday’s meeting, seven parties broadly agreed to the draft. They were the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, and five opposition parties–the Democratic Party for the People, the Centrist Reform Alliance, Sanseito, Komeito and Team Mirai. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan indicated its opposition to the proposal and said it will clarify its stance at Wednesday’s meeting. Others, such as the Japanese Communist Party, opposed it. After receiving the upcoming proposal from the Diet, the government is expected to submit a bill to revise the Imperial House Law to the current Diet session, with the aim of having it enacted during the session that ends July 17. The draft supports the two plans compiled by a government panel of experts in 2021 for ensuring a sufficient number of Imperial Family members and calls for necessary legislative measures to be taken, including revising the Imperial House Law. One of the two measures is allowing female members of the Imperial Family to retain their Imperial status after marriage and the other is adopting male members in the paternal line of former Imperial Family branches back into the family. The draft urges the government to begin work to design details of a system to allow female members to keep their Imperial Family status, but does not specify whether their spouses and children would be given the status. Mori said the draft proposal should be understood as accepting the expert panel report’s reference that spouses and children may not hold the status. Regarding the adoption plan, the draft calls for a specific system to be designed to accept male members in the paternal line of the 11 branches that left the Imperial Family in October 1947, adding that the system should be reviewed every certain years as needed. “The households of Emperor Naruhito, Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Crown Prince Akishino are assumed to be unable to become adoptive families,” Mori said. He added that specific procedures for adoption should be discussed at the Imperial House Council, which consists of members of the Imperial Family and representatives of the government, legislature and judiciary. The principle of Imperial succession from Emperor Naruhito to Crown Prince Akishino and his son, Prince Hisahito, “should be firmly maintained,” the draft says, adding that a supplementary provision calling for “taking necessary measures” should be attached to an expected Imperial House Law amendment. In addition, the drat calls for a supplementary Diet resolution seeking continued discussions on measures to ensure sable Imperial succession. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]