TOKYO - Japan's parliament on Wednesday compiled a proposal to revise a law aimed at ensuring a sustainable imperial family system after all 13 political parties and groups in both houses held a meeting, paving the way for an amendment to be enacted by July 17, when the current parliamentary session ends.
After announcing its finalization at a press conference, House of Representatives Speaker Eisuke Mori handed the proposal, drafted by the leaderships of the lower chamber and the House of Councillors, to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
The proposal centers on two revisions -- allowing female members to retain their imperial status even after marrying commoners and permitting the imperial family to adopt men descended through the male line from emperors in 11 former branch families.
As the proposed revision says adopted sons would be ineligible to become emperor and does not address the possibility of a female on the throne, which public opinion supports, it does not directly tackle the longstanding issue of ensuring a stable imperial succession amid the dwindling number of male heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Under the current 1947 Imperial House Law, only a male with an emperor in his paternal lineage can ascend the throne, while female members lose their imperial status upon marriage, resulting in a decline in both the number of eligible successors and imperial family members.
Currently, there are only three successors to Emperor Naruhito, 66 -- his younger brother Crown Prince Fumihito, 60, his nephew Prince Hisahito, 19, and his uncle Prince Hitachi, 90.
Based on the "consensus of the legislature" proposal, with the support of most of the major ruling and opposition parties, the government is expected to begin drafting a revision bill.
After the bill is drafted, the speakers and vice speakers of the two houses, who compiled the proposal after hearing views from all parties, will check to see if it reflects their request, Mori said.
"Despite a variety of opinions, we have produced the best possible one," said Mori, a veteran lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by Takaichi.
Keiichi Ishii, the lower chamber's vice speaker, said at the news conference that the plan for Prince Hisahito to succeed to the throne remains "unwavering," and that how to address succession beyond him is an issue for future discussion.
The proposal says the wishes of female imperial family members on whether to retain or relinquish their status after marriage should be respected, while leaving open the issue of whether their husbands and children would also obtain imperial status.
It also calls for "careful design of a system" for adopting male members of former branch families, which is currently prohibited, saying the scheme should be subject to periodic review if necessary.
Although Mori has told reporters he believes a son born to an adopted member of a former branch family would be eligible to succeed to the throne, the proposal does not include that idea.
The two proposed revisions were originally put forward in 2021 by a government expert panel, which did not address whether to allow women or those descended from an emperor through the female line to ascend the throne, saying it was premature to explore the issue.
According to a Kyodo News poll conducted last month, 83.0 percent of respondents supported allowing a female emperor.
At a previous meeting on Monday, seven parties, including the LDP and the Centrist Reform Alliance, the largest opposition party in the lower house, broadly agreed on the draft proposal. Only a handful of smaller opposition parties opposed it.
