TOKYO - A historic legal revision intended to sustain the world's oldest hereditary monarchy may instead jeopardize its long-term survival by failing to win broad public support, a prerequisite for the imperial system, scholars say.
The revised Imperial House Law, enacted by parliament on Friday, was drafted based on what is called the "consensus" of the legislature built up over months of cross-party discussions. But it has drawn criticism for going beyond the scope of the agreement to touch on the contentious issue of succession to the throne.
The first substantial revision of the 1947 law shelved the idea of allowing female emperors, alienating a public largely in support of such a move, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her ruling coalition determined to preserve the paternal-line, male-only imperial system, experts say.
Hideya Kawanishi, a professor at the Nagoya University Graduate School of Humanities, noting the public's support for female succession, characterized the legislation as "far removed from public opinion."
The two major changes are to permit the imperial family to adopt males aged 15 and older and descended through the male line from emperors in 11 former branch families, and to allow female members to retain their imperial status after marrying commoners.
The ruling coalition rushed to enact the revision, defying criticism from some opposition parties that the bill does not truly reflect the content of the consensus agreement compiled by the speakers and vice speakers of both houses based on the views of all 13 parties and groups.
At the crux of the criticism was that the legislation, submitted to parliament only in June, would make male descendants of adopted members eligible for imperial succession, a point that was not discussed during the cross-party talks.
Shunichi Mizuoka, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force in the House of Councillors, denounced the government for deploying a "deceptive maneuver" in its handling of the legislation.
Takaichi made her case by interpreting the Imperial House Law to mean that sons born to adopted members are "imperial family members by birth" and thus would be eligible to inherit the throne.
The number of those who are eligible to ascend the throne has declined for decades as the law has limited succession to males who have an emperor on their father's side, making measures to ensure stable succession all the more urgent.
There are currently only three male heirs to Emperor Naruhito, 66 -- his younger brother, Crown Prince Fumihito, 60, his nephew, Prince Hisahito, 19, and his uncle, Prince Hitachi, 90.
Accepting female monarchs or matrilineal-line emperors is considered one of the possible options, but the legislation sidestepped the issue.
A Kyodo News poll conducted in May showed that 83.0 percent of respondents backed allowing women to take the throne, while 13.1 percent opposed it. Meanwhile, support for permitting the imperial family to adopt former branch family members stood at 43.7 percent, compared with 42.6 percent opposed.
Experts point out that the high public support for female emperors stems in part from the need to free female imperial family members from pressure to bear male heirs, as well as the popularity of Princess Aiko, the 24-year-old only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, a former diplomat.
The Constitution that came into force in the same year as the Imperial House Law stipulates that the emperor is Japan's "symbol" and derives his position "from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power."
Kawanishi warned that if the revised law deviates from public opinion, this could erode public trust and therefore place the imperial system itself at greater risk.
It is not the first time that the issue of whether Japan should have female emperors has emerged.
Before Prince Hisahito was born, a government panel under then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi concluded in a 2005 report that female emperors would be "highly significant in ensuring the stable continuation" of the imperial system.
The same report, however, rejected the concept of adopting males from former branches, saying it would be "difficult to obtain public understanding and support."
Kawanishi said the resurgence of proposals emphasizing the preservation of the male-emperor and paternal-line succession system, which fell out of favor about two decades ago, reflects a growing conservative voice within Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party.
But whether the move to embrace former members of the 11 former branch families will provide the hoped-for solution has been called into question. They have lived as commoners for decades after being excluded from the imperial family in 1947 and are only distantly related to the current imperial family.
Tracing male lines in the monarchy, the former branch families share a common ancestor with the current emperor, dating back around 600 years.
But Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akira Koike, citing the government's explanation that male-line descendants of the former branches are separated from Emperor Naruhito by between 36 and 38 degrees of kinship, said they are "almost complete strangers."
Yohei Mori, a Seijo University professor, criticized the government's determination to preserve the paternal-line male succession system at all costs.
"Some conservatives have proudly said that Japan's male-line male emperor succession has continued for over 2,600 years. Given the global trend toward succession based on primogeniture and gender equality, however, I wonder if maintaining such a system is rather something to be ashamed of," Mori said.
