As a measure to reduce the burden of official duties on the declining number of Imperial family members, the government is considering a system for women who have married out of the family to continue to hold roles.
The idea of giving these women a new title of "kojo" (Imperial lady) has surfaced in the envisioned system to designate them as national civil servants with special roles. They would be asked to continue their activities related to the Imperial family, government sources have said.
However, a female Imperial family branch in which a woman who marries out of the family will remain in the household will not be established.
According to the sources, the government is making arrangements to report on the idea of creating the kojo Imperial lady status to House of Representatives Speaker Tadamori Oshima as early as by the end of this year.
The current Imperial House Law stipulates that a female Imperial family member will lose her royal status when she marries a commoner.
Currently, six of the 13 female members of the royal family are unmarried and all of them are in their 30s or younger, with the youngest of them 18-year-old Princess Aiko, the daughter of the Emperor and Empress. Should each of them get married, it may become difficult to carry out the official duties of the Imperial family as they are shared by the family members.
The envisioned system seeks to establish special legislation so that female Imperial family members will have public status and engage in royal duties even after marriage, but they will still have to follow the provision of the Imperial House Law to leave the family. As public servants, they will also receive allowances.
A supplementary resolution to the 2017 special law on the abdication of the emperor of the Heisei era, now the Emperor Emeritus, called on the government to consider among other issues the creation of a female Imperial branch.
However, if a female Imperial family member were to form an Imperial branch after marriage, a son would be of "female lineage" rather than "male lineage," which is currently necessary for succession to the throne. Opposition to this idea has been strong, especially among conservative lawmakers, so the government is not considering creating a female Imperial family branch.
On the other hand, the envisioned system to ease the burden of official duties on Imperial family members can be separated from the right to succeed to the throne.
"The government believes that it will be easier for conservatives to accept," said a senior government official.
In 2012 when then Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of the Democratic Party of Japan led the government, his Cabinet released a "list of issues" that needed to be discussed regarding the Imperial Household system, including the necessity of creating a female Imperial branch. It also included a proposal that former female Imperial family members support the activities of the family as national civil servants even after losing their status.
The government had said it would start full-fledged consideration on the stable succession to the throne and the eligibility of Imperial family members after the completion of the Nov. 8 Rikkoshi-no-rei ceremony proclaiming Crown Prince Akishino as first in line to the throne.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
