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Female succession should be Japan's last option, emperor's relative says

Japan should exhaust all other options before allowing a woman to ascend its imperial throne, including adoptions and bringing back concubines, Emperor Akihito's cousin said in a newsletter obtained yesterday.

With the Chrysanthemum Throne facing a severe succession crisis -- Japan's imperial family has not produced a male heir in 40 years -- a government panel agreed last month to propose allowing women to reign. Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako have one child, a three-year-old daughter named Aiko.

But Prince Tomohito, Akihito's cousin, said that old traditions should be revived instead.

"We should try various other ways first," before allowing female monarchs, Prince Tomohito wrote in an essay published in a newsletter circulated among staff of the Imperial Household Agency. "The question is whether it is a right thing to change the unique tradition and history so easily."

Tomohito is the eldest cousin of Japanese Emperor Akihito and is fifth in line for succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

His comment appeared in the Sept. 30 newsletter, which is not sold, said Koji Okubo, an Imperial Household Agency staff at the prince's residence.

In the essay, "Sea Lion's Chat," Tomohito suggested bringing back male royals who were forced from the old aristocracy after World War II, allowing adoption of sons of former royals, or reviving a system in which the sons of concubines were allowed to ascend the throne.

"Using concubines, like we used to, is also an option. I'm all for it, but this might be a little difficult considering social climate in and outside the country," he wrote, noting that both the father and grandfather of former Emperor Hirohito were sons of concubines.

The tradition ended with Hirohito, who refused to take a concubine.

Under the 1947 Imperial Household Law, only males who are descended from emperors on their father's side can succeed to the throne.
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