Deutsche Welle reports today: Japan's first female prime minister, Takayama Hayato, stated on the 27th in the Diet that she opposes amending the current system which limits the succession of the imperial throne to males. Takayama told the Diet that an expert group in 2021 concluded that it was more appropriate to limit the right of succession to male descendants within the imperial family, and she respects this conclusion.
Unlike many European royal families, in Japan, the throne can only be inherited by male members of the imperial family. With the number of members of the Japanese imperial family continuing to decrease, female members must leave the imperial family after marriage, so the issue of succession to the throne has attracted increasing attention in recent years.
The current Emperor Naruhito has only one daughter, Princess Aiko. According to the current system, female members of the imperial family have no right of succession, so Princess Aiko is not in the line of succession for the throne. Currently, the top two in the line of succession for the Japanese throne are Emperor Naruhito's younger brother, 60-year-old Prince Akishino, and his son, 19-year-old Prince Hisahiro, who is the only male member of the younger generation of the imperial family.
Debates over the issue of imperial succession have been ongoing in Japan for decades. According to AFP, surveys show that the Japanese public is open to the idea of a woman becoming emperor. However, conservative political forces represented by Takayama Hayato still insist on strictly adhering to the patriarchal system of imperial succession.
Comment: Takayama Hayato herself broke through the gender barrier to rise to power, but then turned around and used "patrilineal orthodoxy" to block women from inheriting the Japanese throne, completely ignoring public opinion and the crisis of the imperial succession. Fundamentally, it is a way to show loyalty to the right-wing conservative forces in Japan, paving the way for her constitutional amendment, military expansion, and right-wing militarist policies. She first firmly secures the patriarchal orthodoxy and the sacred lineage of the imperial system, using this conservative ideology to unite the right-wing base, and then uses the authority of the "national symbol" to promote the amendment of the peaceful constitution, strengthen military power, and break free from the post-war system constraints.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1858376572474379/
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