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Sunday January 8, 7:15 PMPrince raps panel for rushing to allow female monarchs: magazine(Kyodo) _ Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, cousin of Emperor Akihito, has criticized a government panel on imperial succession for rushing to propose allowing female monarchs in Japan, according to a Japanese monthly magazine scheduled to go on sale Tuesday.The prince suggests in an article in the February edition of Bungei Shunju that the panel should explore other options such as reinstating the royal status of imperial branch families and said there is "no need to immediately" come to a decision. The advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed on Nov. 24 allowing females and their descendants to ascend the throne, given that no male heir has been born into the royal family for the last 40 years, while ruling out having former imperial branch family members return to royal status. Prince Tomohito's remarks could raise eyebrows again after his controversial views, which came to light several weeks before the panel's recommendation, prompted Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Shingo Haketa to express concern. The prince had written in a Sept. 30 newsletter of a welfare organization he heads that he personally wonders whether it is good to change Japan's "unique history and tradition" by allowing females to ascend the imperial throne. Haketa said Nov. 10 that imperial family members are to refrain from making public their opinions concerning revising the Imperial House Law, pointing out that it is a matter to be handled by the Cabinet and the Diet. The Imperial House Law, which took effect in 1947, limits successors to the throne only to male heirs who have emperors on their father's side. The Bungei Shunju article, titled "Weight of the emperor's blood -- why I am opposed to a female-line emperor," is set in the format of a dialogue between Prince Tomohito and journalist Yoshiko Sakurai. The prince says in the article that the imperial household tradition has long been to have males who have emperors on their father's side to reign and emphasizes that "no one could go against the weight of this blood." He says Japanese people have tacit consent and a sense of respect toward this blood line. Prince Tomohito also expresses concern that the imperial family will become no different from ordinary Japanese families if it allows female monarchs, who would marry commoners. He also suggested the possibility of having a male descendant of one of the Japanese imperial branch families, divested of royal status shortly after World War II, be adopted into the imperial family in order to maintain the male line. Japan, whose imperial system dates back to the fifth century, had eight female monarchs between the sixth and 18th centuries who were enthroned to prevent a break in succession in cases of emergency. All of them were male-line heirs, and after their enthronement, they did not give birth to any children who later ascended the throne, preserving the male-line tradition through Japan's 125 emperors, including mythical ones, historians say. |
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