Govt-Drafted Imperial House Law Revisions Face Objections

Tokyo, June 25 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese government-drafted outline of a bill to revise the Imperial House Law to secure an adequate number of Imperial Family members is facing objections from both ruling and opposition parties. On Thursday, a panel of representatives from ruling and opposition parties approved the outline on the condition that a supplementary resolution be attached, according to House of Representatives Speaker Eisuke Mori. However, the panel was far from unanimously approving the outline. During the day’s meeting, Hiroyuki Nagahama of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said that it would be “extremely difficult” to support the outline, which includes a proposal to allow the Imperial Family to adopt male, paternal-line descendants of former Imperial Family branches. Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partner, opposed limiting such adoptees to individuals aged 15 or older. The JIP will discuss its response to the matter on Monday. Regarding a proposal to allow female members of the Imperial Family to maintain their status after marriage, Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said at a press conference the same day that the panel had not discussed applying the basic resident register law to them, which is included in the outline. Akira Koike, head of the secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party, said that a bill reflecting the outline “would just be killed.” In the LDP, party Vice President Taro Aso has led discussions on the issue. At a meeting of his intraparty faction on Thursday, Aso voiced his eagerness to revise the Imperial House Law during the current session. The administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to adopt a bill revising the law by the end of this month for its enactment before the current session ends next month. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]