Latest news with #imperialfamily
Japan Times
6 days ago
- General
- Japan Times
Japan lawmakers likely to put off decision on imperial family plan
The ruling and opposition parties are highly likely to postpone a decision on ways to secure the number of imperial family members as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan remain far apart on the matter, senior party members said. Leaders of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, who have been mediating informal talks between the two parties, have found it difficult to reach a conclusion before the current parliamentary session is set to end on June 22. Some are calling for an interim report to summarize discussions. The ruling and opposition parties are split over an option of adopting back into the imperial family male members in the paternal line of 11 former branches of the family. They have broadly agreed to allow female imperial family members to remain in the family even after marriage. Still, the LDP is reluctant to give the status of an imperial family member to husbands and children of female imperial family members due to concerns that this could possibly pave the way for people from the maternal line to become emperors. LDP supreme adviser Taro Aso and CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda have held informal talks on the matter since March under the mediation of Lower House Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga and Vice Speaker Koichiro Genba. Aso has insisted that husbands and children of female imperial family members should become part of the family only if the husbands are in the paternal line of the former branches. Noda has proposed leaving any decision to the Imperial House Council. The four members in the talks canceled a meeting on Tuesday. "We'll start over in fall," one of the four said. Nukaga had been aiming to agree on a draft plan among the four members and present it to the overall meeting of lawmakers before the current Diet session ends, but this has become unlikely.
Japan Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Support for female imperial family members keeping status at 64.9%: poll
Nearly two-thirds of respondents think female members of the imperial family should retain their status after marriage, a Jiji Press opinion poll showed Thursday. While 64.9% of respondents backed that idea, 10.7% opposed it and a total of 24.3% had no opinion or were not sure. The interview survey, conducted for four days through Monday, covered 2,000 people age 18 or older across the country. Valid responses came from 58.8%. The poll also asked whether respondents agree that male members in the paternal line of 11 former imperial family branches, which left the imperial family after the end of World War II, should be adopted back into the family. This idea was supported by 39.2% of respondents, while those who opposed it or either had no opinion or were not sure accounted for 22.2% and 38.6%, respectively. These ideas have been proposed to ensure stable imperial succession amid a decline in the number of imperial family members. Ruling and opposition parties are currently discussing the proposals with the aim of compiling necessary legislation during the ongoing session of the Diet, Japan's parliament.
