Tokyo — Japan should exhaust all other options before allowing a woman to ascend to its imperial throne, including adoptions and bringing back concubines, Emperor Akihito's cousin said in a newsletter obtained Thursday.
With the Chrysanthemum Throne facing a severe succession crisis -- Japan's imperial family has not produced a male heir in 40 years -- a government panel agreed last month to propose allowing women to reign. Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako have one child, a three-year-old daughter named Aiko.
But Prince Tomohito, Emperor Akihito's cousin, said old traditions, such as allowing concubines, should be revived instead.
“We should try various other ways first,” before allowing female monarchs, Prince Tomohito wrote in an essay published in a newsletter circulated among staff of the Imperial Household Agency.
“The question is whether it is a right thing to change the unique tradition and history so easily.”
Tomohito is the eldest cousin of Japanese Emperor Akihito and is fifth in line for succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
His comment appeared in the Sept. 30 newsletter, the latest edition of the quarterly, which is not sold, said Koji Okubo, an Imperial Household Agency staff member at the prince's residence.
In the essay, Sea Lion's Chat, Tomohito suggested bringing back male royals who were forced from the old aristocracy after the Second World War, allowing adoption of sons of former royals, or reviving a system in which the sons of concubines were allowed to ascend the throne.
“Using concubines, like we used to, is also an option. I'm all for it but this might be a little difficult considering social climate in and outside the country,” Tomohito wrote, noting both the father and grandfather of his uncle, the late emperor Hirohito, were sons of concubines.
Under the 1947 Imperial Household Law, only males who are descended from emperors on their father's side can succeed to the throne. Under that law, neither Princess Aiko nor her future children can ascend the throne.
The royal family is prohibited from interfering in politics under Japan's Constitution and they have no say over the panel's discussions.
Mr. Okubo said he did not know whether Tomohito wrote the statement to represent members of the royal family, or whether he planned to submit his proposals to the government panel.
In July, the panel compiled an interim report suggesting as options a legal change to allow a female monarch or to bring back members of the old aristocracy -- or their offspring -- who were forced from the imperial household in 1947 after Japan's defeat in the war.
The idea of allowing a woman to take the throne has broad popular support in Japan.
