Tokyo, July 10 (Jiji Press)–The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan’s parliament, passed a bill Friday to revise the Imperial House Law to secure an adequate number of Imperial Family members. The bill was approved at a plenary meeting and then sent to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. It is likely to be enacted during the current Diet session, slated to end on July 17, after deliberations in the Upper House. The opposition Centrist Reform Alliance decided in favor of the bill on the same day. In addition to the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito voted for it. The bill is aimed at allowing the Imperial Family to adopt male, paternal-line descendants of former Imperial Family branches and retaining female members in the Imperial Family after marriage. It would allow male children of such adoptees to succeed to the throne. Prior to the plenary meeting, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara explained the purpose of the bill at a meeting of the Lower House steering committee. Takayuki Kobayashi, head of the LDP’s Policy Research Council, asked about the right to the throne for children of those who would be adopted to the Imperial Family. Kihara made it clear that such children would be eligible to succeed to the throne if they are male. CRA acting secretary-general Hiromasa Nakano said that the succession to the throne was not a subject of prior discussions between ruling and opposition parties. In response, Kihara said that the revised law would not pre-empt the legislative branch in future deliberations on related issues or restrict any such future debates. Referring to a supplementary resolution calling for a future review of the revised law, he said that it is natural to respect its purpose. JIP co-leader Fumitake Fujita expressed concern about the rule that the minimum age for the proposed adoption is 15 years old. DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki said, “The situation where public opinion is divided (over the bill) is extremely worrying.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Japan Lower House Passes Imperial Family Bill
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