The government's advisory panel on ensuring a stable Imperial succession kicked off its discussions on Tuesday, and former Keio University President Atsushi Seike was chosen by its members to chair the panel.
The six-member panel, which includes not only scholars but also East Japan Railway Co. Chairman Testuro Tomita and actress-writer Yuri Nakae, will seek opinions from specialists on the imperial institution and its history to address various matters on its agenda.
"The panel will discuss extremely important matters that concern the fundamentals of the country," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at the beginning of the meeting at the Prime Minister's Office. "I'd like the panel to sort out various points of view in an easy-to-understand manner."
The government will report to the Diet on the status of the discussions based on a summary of issues compiled by the panel.
The advisory panel will interview the specialists on about 10 matters, such as the role of an emperor, the decline in the number of Imperial family members, the enthronement of a female emperor and the creation of female Imperial branches. It will also discuss whether members of male lines of former Imperial branches that renounced their membership after World War II could regain their Imperial status.
"We will have a careful and solid discussion," Seike told reporters after the meeting.
Four of the six members had never before participated in this kind of advisory meeting, although Seike and Chiba University of Commerce Prof. Midori Miyazaki were members of the past meetings on reducing the burden of emperor's official duties in 2016-17.
The panel consists of three men and three women, with three members aged in their 40s. According to a senior government official, this personnel composition is designed to "have discussions from the public perspective," by including opinions of women and the relatively younger generation.
A supplementary resolution on the Special Measures Law on the Imperial House Law Concerning Abdication of the Emperor and Other Matters enacted in 2017 calls for the government to consider ways to ensure a stable succession. The government had consulted with the panel members individually behind closed doors, in consideration of the Imperial events associated with the succession.
The discussions were paused due to the Rikkoshi-no-rei ceremony for the proclamation of crown prince, after which the pandemic made it difficult for the panel members to reconvene. But they finally met publicly Tuesday after a state of emergency was ended on Sunday.
However, the government has not clarified when the panel is expected to finish addressing the various matters on its agenda. Conservative factions may oppose the panel's report depending on its content, and it is expected to be difficult to finalize the report before the next House of Representatives election, which must take place by autumn.
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