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© KYODOExperts say Suga gov't unlikely to approve female monarch
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sakurasuki
Whatever decision result, eight year in office should have enough time to decide this.
plasticmonkey
Of course not. The issue should be resolved by the will of conservative old men.
AustPaul
Not be decided by a majority vote?? Everything else usually is!
Listen to the people!
Wondering what the imperial family’s take in all this is? Or do they not get a voice too?
u_s__reamer
"Man does not live by bread alone" has a corollary: Man also lives by words, names and symbols.The subservient role still allotted to women in Japanese society in 2021 is a risible anachronism. Aside from the legitimacy of the "Emperor system" itself in a modern functioning democracy, "cancelling" women from playing the symbolic head of state is a retrograde step that patently poses a further impediment to the empowerment of women in the public life of the nation. Shame on the old men and their obsequious hirelings seeking to perpetuate that rotten remnant of Japanese feudalism: 男尊女卑 (danson johi) - a crass and crude saying that translates roughly as "Respect Men, Despise Women". Duh!
Politik Kills
Welcome to the 19th century, Japan!
noriahojanen
The Japanese people have yet to be informed of who are to be adopted (most likely male) with what backgrounds. How could we possibly give trust and bestow the throne on him?
What is so called "millennia-old unbroken" patrilineal succession is a myth. There are several historical occasions where the linage had been disrupted and disputed. The bloodline is not at all significant part of the royal tradition.
noriahojanen
I suggest combining the primogeniture with the current succession rule allowing the royal women to be on the succession line provided that the female throne is not succeeded by her offspring (except that her husband is from the royal background). Thus Princess Aiko is entitled to the throne after the current Emperor.
The proposal seems not drastic yet most feasible. It can gain some support or compromise from the "male only" conservative camp. This arrangement would also relieve young Prince Hisahito of Akishino of excessive responsibility and pressures.
obladi
political hot potato. There will probably be a compromise that leaves the issue unresolved
TARA TAN KITAOKA
Well,lapan has no rights to talk abt women rights or human rights. Level too low.
Goodlucktoyou
Shouldn’t the US government decide? We lost WW2 and America stopped the power of the monarchy that invaded the Asian area. America changed the constitution and brought peace.
u_s__reamer
Shouldn’t the US government decide? We lost WW2 and America stopped the power of the monarchy that invaded the Asian area. America changed the constitution and brought peace.
But the American ruling class with their own analogous "President Worship" well understood how to use the powerful tool of Japanese "Emperor Worship" that had fallen into their hands in order to cement continuity and social stability in a defeated nation turned upside down by defeat. Leaders of every stripe and quickly learn how to play the masses like violins, an egregious example of which we have seen in recent years. Thus even today in 2021 the Japanese elite are determined to keep a male Emperor on the throne to project symbolic strength and power over the people of Japan.
voiceofokinawa
In the feudal times when only the first son could succeed a family line, samurais and feudal lords, shoguns in particular, were allowed to keep multiple wives besides the official first lady in preparation for the lack of male successors.
Tokugawa Ienari, the 11th shogun, is said to have kept 40 concubines and fathered 26 sons and 27 daughters.
Maybe, Suga is thinking of reviving this funny system.
Simon Foston
Well of course. LDP politicians would rather get money and votes from ageing male right-wing nutjobs than death threats, bullets and severed fingers in their mailboxes.
BertieWooster
"Monarch = a sovereign head of state, especially a king, queen or emperor."
If the emperor needs approval, how can he call himself an emperor?
HJSLLS
We send robots to Mars repeatedly, land humans on the Moon, and 3D print human organs, yet Japan cannot permit a woman to lead the monarchy.
We are not as advanced as we think we are.
Alan Harrison
Japan is not years behind in this respect, but centuries behind.
smithinjapan
And risk moving up from near dead last in world gender equality rankings?? NEVER! A female could NEVER do the job a man could as emperor. Clearly you need the genitals of a male to sit in a chair max let others talk for you.
voiceofokinawa
BertieWooster,
The new Imperial Household Law promulgated and implemented concurrently with the Pacifist Constitution in 1947 stipulates that the Diet has primary responsibility to decide on imperial household affairs.
voiceofokinawa
Note that the Emperor is the the symbol of the nation, not the ruler of it, according to the post-war constitution.
voiceofokinawa
Emperor Naruhito and ex-Emperor Akihito are well-aware of their role as being a symbolic emperor. They are thus closer to the people.
Styopka
“Experts say Suga gov't unlikely to approve female monarch”
Well....duuuuh?
In other news, “Water is wet.”
Pukey2
Oh, for god's sake, can they stop pretending they care or want to change? Queen Elizabeth II and other queens have been around a long time, Muslim countries have had many female leaders, East Asian neighbours have had female leaders (Phil, Taiwan, South Korea, HK). Even North Korea's number two is female.
Nothing will change in Japan in my lifetime.
Desert Tortoise
That soon??? You sound pretty optimistic.
The irony in this is her eldest son is so thoroughly reviled she probably feels she has to hang on as long as possible as queen to delay the day Prince Charles ascends to the British throne. The freak show of her dysfunctional children and grandchildren may end up bringing the downfall of the UK monarchy.
Desert Tortoise
A great example of why I am so fond of the Confucian concept of Yin Yang.
Desert Tortoise
Their wives! ^_^
OssanAmerica
Article 9 was constructed as an alternative to charging/removing the Emperor and satisfing the demands of Allied nations who wanted him charged.