The Imperial family, led by Emperor Akihito, has not produced a male heir in 40
years. Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako have had one child, a
3-year-old daughter named Aiko.
The chairman of the panel, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, a former University of Tokyo
president, said the group was not endorsing allowing women monarchs but was
simply listing the two options and saying something needs to be done.
"There are concerns that there will be an absence of qualified successors
sooner or later," Yoshikawa said. "That is why we need to urgently look into
how the Imperial succession system should be."
Yoshikawa said the panel would make its final report to Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi by late autumn. The options will be posted on the Web to draw
public comment.
The panel, which includes people from politics, industry and academia,
concluded in March there was no historical basis for the system of having only
males assume the crown.
The Imperial House Law, enacted in 1947, stipulates that only male heirs who
have emperors on their father's side can succeed to the throne. The same
postwar reform dismantled Japan's extended aristocracy. The panel said Tuesday
that bringing them back into the fold through adoption or marriage would be
another way to enlarge the pool of possible successors.
No male has been born in the royal family since 1965. Public opinion polls show considerable support for allowing a female monarch. The enormous pressure on the Crown Princess to produce a male heir has been blamed for contributing to a nervous condition that forced her to withdraw from public life in late 2003.
