INTERVIEW: Ex-royal says public may not accept adopting males into imperial family

TOKYO - The Japanese public may not accept the enlargement of the imperial family through the adoption of new male members from former branches that lost their royal status after World War II, a cousin of former Emperor Akihito said in a recent interview.

"I think it would be difficult for an adopted person to be smoothly accepted by the public as an imperial member," said Asahiro Kuni, 81, who belongs to one of the 11 former imperial branches that are under renewed attention as the government seeks to devise measures to tackle the declining size of the imperial family.