Slew of Challenges Await after Imperial House Law Revision

Tokyo, July 20 (Jiji Press)–A barrage of challenges await for the Japanese government’s aim to secure a sufficient number of Imperial Family members, after the enactment of a bill to revise the Imperial House Law. The Diet, the country’s parliament, on Friday passed the amendment stipulating that paternal-line male descendants from 11 former branches of the Imperial Family who are 15 or older and unmarried can be adopted back into the family and that female members of the Imperial Family are allowed to retain their status of the family after marriage. Almost Total Strangers The first question regarding the adoption system is whether there is anybody who want to be adopted. Four of the 11 former Imperial Family branches–Higashikuni, Kaya, Takeda and Kuni–have a total of 11 unmarried male members in the paternal line who are aged 30 or under, according to Akira Momochi, honorary professor at Nihon University. But the government has not asked them whether they want to be adopted into the Imperial Family. Meanwhile, entitled to become adoptive parents are Imperial Family members other than Emperor Emeritus Akihito, Empress Emerita Michiko, Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko. Among the potential adoptive parents is Princess Nobuko, the widow of the late Prince Tomohito of Mikasa and a cousin of Emperor Emeritus Akihito. The princess is a younger sister of Taro Aso, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, giving rise to concern among opposition parties over room for political consideration. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara tried to dispel such concerns. “Adoption will be carried out based on the free will of both adoptees and adoptive parents,” the top government spokesman said at a meeting Wednesday of a House of Councillors special committee on amending the Imperial House Law, adding that there are no “arbitrary elements” in the adoption system. The biggest challenge is whether public understanding and support will be obtained for any of the paternal-line male descendants from the 11 former branches rejoining the Imperial Family. Members of the former branches have lived as ordinary citizens since they left the Imperial Family in 1947, and their common ancestors with the current Imperial Family date back to about 600 years ago. Some say that allowing such adoption only to the 11 former Imperial Family branches “violates the Constitution’s Article 14, which bans discrimination based on family origin.” Akira Koike, an executive of the opposition Japanese Communist Party, said at Wednesday’s special committee meeting that the paternal-line male descendants from the 11 former Imperial Family branches and Emperor Naruhito are distant by 36 to 38 degrees of kinship. “People who are separated by six or more degrees of kinship are not defined as relatives under the Civil Code, so those who are remote by 38 degrees of kinship are almost total strangers,” Koike said, criticizing the adoption system. No Family Register, Surname or Suffrage A key issue regarding the system of allowing female members of the Imperial Family to retain their status after marriage is whether family unity can be maintained. This is because the revised Imperial House Law defines the husband and children of female Imperial Family members as ordinary citizens although the Diet’s consensus on a revision of the law, which was compiled by the heads and deputy heads of both Diet chambers last month, deferred a conclusion on the matter. The government assumes that female Imperial Family members and their husbands and children will live together on Imperial grounds. It is also considering using public money to cover travel costs of the husbands or children accompanying the female members going out for official duties. The husbands and children are not subject to protection by Imperial Family guards, but Kihara said that necessary measures will be taken depending on the situation. Meanwhile, female Imperial Family members will remain on the register of the family and will therefore continue to have no surnames or the rights to vote or to be elected, unlike their husbands and children. At an intensive debate held at the Budget Committee of the Upper House soon after the enactment of the Imperial House Law amendment, Renho from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan grilled Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, telling her, “How can you ensure that family unity (among female Imperial Family members and their husbands and children) is maintained although you have opposed the introduction of a dual surname system for married couples by arguing that family unity would be lost just because such couples and their children do not share family names.” Takaichi rebutted by saying, “I can’t agree with the idea of discussing (the Imperial Family issue) in the same way as that for issues for the general public. It’s a completely different matter.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]