Empress role moves closer for Japan's little princess

JAPAN took a step yesterday towards clearing the path for three-year-old Princess Aiko to become its first reigning empress in centuries.

A panel of experts recommended to the prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, that the law be amended to give women the same rights as men to inherit the throne, allowing the eldest child to inherit regardless of gender.

The change would resolve a looming succession crisis created by a dearth of royal males. No boys have been born into the royal family in four decades. Emperor Akihito is 71, and while he has two sons, all his grandchildren are girls.

"I hope from my heart that this will be widely accepted by the public and contribute to stable imperial succession," Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, head of the advisory panel, said.

Conservatives keen to preserve a male-only imperial line they say stretches back 2,600 years oppose the change, but surveys show most ordinary Japanese support it.

Mariko Maruyama, a 56-year-old housewife, said: "Discriminating between men and women is nonsense. The heir should be the first-born child, whether boy or girl, so you can prepare them. Otherwise, life could change too suddenly for them, which would be rough."

Training of an heir for a role devoid of power but steeped in tradition and ritual typically begins around the age of three. Aiko turns four on 1 December.

Mr Koizumi called the panel's recommendations "very meaningful" and added that he envisaged submitting a bill based on them to parliament next year.

Asked about opposition to the recommendations, he said: "I would like there to be sufficient debate so we can gain understanding from the public."

Revising the 1947 imperial succession law might bring Aiko's mother, Crown Princess Masako, 41, welcome relief.

She has been largely absent from the public eye for two years, suffering from a mental disorder caused by the stress of adapting to palace life.

Pressure to produce a male heir weighed heavily on the once-vibrant princess, a former diplomat, royal watchers say.

Ayako Yamakawa, a housewife in her 50s, said: "The system is really hard on women. Many of them become ill from the pressure - Masako certainly did."