Japan Revises Imperial House Law for 1st Time in 79 Years

Tokyo, July 17 (Jiji Press)–The Diet, Japan’s parliament, enacted a bill Friday to revise the Imperial House Law as part of efforts to secure a sufficient number of Imperial Family members, marking the first substantive change to the law since its establishment in 1947. The bill was approved at a plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, by a majority vote with support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, as well as the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito. The House of Representatives, the lower chamber, passed the bill July 10. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party in the Upper House, the Japanese Communist Party and Reiwa Shinsengumi opposed it. The revised law will allow the Imperial Family to adopt male paternal-line descendants of the 11 former Imperial Family branches and enable female members of the Imperial Family to retain their Imperial status after marriage. The amendment emphasizes “male-line succession,” a principle advocated by the government and the ruling parties. Under the revised law, adopted former Imperial Family members and their male-line descendants will be eligible to succeed to the throne. However, persistent objections remain, and building broad public consensus will be a key challenge. The revised law newly includes a chapter on adopted male members although adoption was prohibited before the amendment. It stipulates that adopted children must be men aged 15 or older and descendants of the former 11 Imperial Family branches that left the family in 1947. They are also required to have no spouse or children. The revised law limits adoptive parents to princes and princesses of the Imperial Family, except the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. Adoptees will have no right to succeed to the throne. However, Article 2, which outlines the order of succession, will apply to the descendants of adoptees. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara has told a Diet session that “male children of adoptees are eligible to succeed to the throne.” This issue was not addressed at a meeting of party representatives under the initiative of the speakers and vice speakers of both Diet chambers. The government claimed that the bill aligned with the “legislative consensus” from the meeting, but this stance drew criticism from some opposition parties. Regarding the status of female members of the Imperial Family, Article 12, which required secession upon marriage, was deleted. No provisions were made for their husbands and children, who will remain ordinary citizens. Kihara has said that there is no issue with “family unity,” despite differences in status within the family. Female members of the Imperial Family after marriage will be registered in the Imperial lineage while being subject to the basic resident register system. As a transitional measure, a supplementary provision allows female members to choose whether to leave the Imperial Family when the revised law takes effect. The revised law will come into effect three months after its promulgation, with a supplementary provision calling for a review every 30 years. The focus will be on whether adoption occurs and whether it contributes to securing an adequate number of Imperial Family members, while discussions on stable succession to the Imperial throne are expected to continue. Deliberations on the bill by the lower and upper chambers lasted only about three hours each. Both chambers adopted a supplementary resolution urging that consideration be given to “the environment surrounding adopted male members of the Imperial Family” in the review. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]