Succession Issues

[Avalon]

Spanish magainze Hola! also reports that the Government decided to drop the plans of the reform.

JAPÓN CIERRA EL CAMINO DE LA PRINCESA AIKO AL TRONO (brief translation of the most important parts of the article).

JAPAN CLOSES THE WAY TO THE THRONE FOR PRINCESS AIKO

The Government decided not to proceed with the reform of the Salic Law that would allow the only daughter of the Crown Prince Naruhito to be Empress one day.

Princess Aiko will never get to be Empress of Japan. The birth of her cousin Prince Hisahito, first male born to the Imperial Family in the last 40 years, ruined the plans to change the Succession Law to the Throne of the Chrysanthemum, according to which only males can succeed to the oldest Monarchy of the World.

Japanese Prime Minister apparently decided to leave the plans of Reform that had started in 2005. It seems almost paradoxical that Japan, one of the most advanced countries in the world, clings to a law that openly discriminates women. Within several decades all over the Europe women will be reigning, since at the moment there are several Heiresses to the Thrones: In Norway, Ingrid Alexandra, the daughter of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, in the Netherlands, Catharina Amalia, first-born daughter of Crown Prince Wilhelm-Alexander and Crown Princess Maxima, in Belgium, Elizabeth, the daughter of Crown Prince Phillippe and Crown Princess Mathilde. The Reform is also predicted in Spain should the Princes of Asturias have a son one day (now they wait for another daughter), which will pave the way for Infanta Leonor to become Queen one day. And let’s not forget Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, the only princess of her generation that will one day become Queen in her own right. The reform in Sweden, by the way, moved her brother Carl Philip of Sweden to the second place in the Line of the Succession.

[corazon]

and if tomorrow masako have a baby boy, wah happend with kiko's baby?

[Avalon]

Originally Posted by corazon

and if tomorrow masako have a baby boy, wah happend with kiko's baby?

If Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako have a boy, the child will be next in the Succession Line, after his father.
In that case Prince Hisahito, the son of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko will be 3rd in the Succession Line (after Naruhito and his son).

[Mandy]

Originally Posted by Avalon

If Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako have a boy, the child will be next in the Succession Line, after his father.
In that case Prince Hisahito, the son of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko will be 3rd in the Succession Line (after Naruhito and his son).

Actually, if CP Naruhito and CP Masako had a baby boy, Hisahito would be 4th in the Succession Line after his own father Akishino. It would then be Naruhito, Baby Boy, Akishino, Hisahito.

[Avalon]

Originally Posted by Mandy

Actually, if CP Naruhito and CP Masako had a baby boy, Hisahito would be 4th in the Succession Line after his own father Akishino. It would then be Naruhito, Baby Boy, Akishino, Hisahito.

You are right, of course!
Sorry for the mistake, I've somehow completely forgotten about Prince Akishino!

[dragonsfire8]

Originally Posted by Gloriana

I didn't mean the Japanese in general.

IMO, not all traditions are good, and this is one of them.

Personally, i think traditions are ment to be broken. This would the fate of the age old traditions the are still being kept. But of course not all traditions are meant to be broken, this happen to be one that needs to be broken. And it has to be soon!!!!!!

[Elspeth]

Well, public support for the change was higher before Hisahito's birth and dropped off afterward (I think it actually started to fall once Princess Kiko's pregnancy was announced). So if there's no huge public demand, I don't suppose the Japanese politicians are any more inclined to stick their necks out than politicians anywhere else.

[Amina]

Originally Posted by mandyy

Report: Japan to drop plan to allow female monarch
Japan will drop plans to allow women to inherit the country's imperial throne, following the birth last year of a long-awaited male heir, a news report said Wednesday.

The conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to ditch recommendations by a government panel in 2005 that an emperor's first child _ boy or girl _ should accede the throne, according to a report by the daily Sankei Shimbun.
The reform was designed to defuse a looming succession crisis for the royal family, which had produced no male heir in four decades.
But the drive, championed by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koziumi, lost steam after the birth of Prince Hisahito on Sept. 6 to Kiko, the wife of the emperor's second son. Abe now plans to encourage debate on other ways to make the imperial succession more stable, the paper said, citing unnamed officials...........
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...02&sec=apworld

Thank you for all the newslinks Mandy - much appreciated. It's very sad indeed that they aren't going to change the succession laws.

[Sister Morphine]

I can understand on some level wanting to keep tradition and history and all that stuff going......but at some point you have to take a step back and say, "This just isn't going to work anymore."

I feel for the CP couple, because of situations beyond their control, they were blessed with a beautiful daughter, and not a son. So now the little girl must pay for that, which to me is the height of inequality and unfairness.

[Furienna]

Why do you say Aiko "must pay"? You make it sound like she will suffer all her life because of this. But she might not want to become empress after all when she grows up.

[Lox]

The question is, will they put the former imperial branches, which lost their imperial status after WWII, back in the line of succession?

[Next Star]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Why do you say Aiko "must pay"? You make it sound like she will suffer all her life because of this. But she might not want to become empress after all when she grows up.

We don't know what the princess wants all that we know is that she is not included in the line of succession to the throne because she is a female. Which is seems unfair because Aiko could not pick her gender she born female and that is it.

[Emily]

The difference with Aiko and Masako's response to this situation may be quite different, though. Aiko will be raised within the Imperial System and so will accept it as normal. She won't have much to compare it with. Masako was different -- not only was she not raised within that system but in addition she was largely raised abroad with different ideas about personal, social and intellectual freedom. It is the latter freedoms that I think have caused her difficulties when not only re-entering Japan but re-entering the deeply structured atmostphere of the Imperial Family. Aiko will most likely be spared such contrasts in her life.

[dragonsfire8]

This all so sad....what have the world come down to?
There needs to be change.....at least get the debate back on track....

[el-khanz]

I think they really need to think about their future. They may have Akishino and Hisahito in line to succession after Naruhito but no one knows what will happen tomorrow. What if something happen to those Princes (God forbid) and they don't have any other Prince to heir the throne?
I understand that they have to consider many things before decide to change the constitution. But, at least, they do something regarding the imperial and the country's future.

[dragonsfire8]

Originally Posted by el-khanz

I think they really need to think about their future. They may have Akishino and Hisahito in line to succession after Naruhito but no one knows what will happen tomorrow. What if something happen to those Princes (God forbid) and they don't have any other Prince to heir the throne?
I understand that they have to consider many things before decide to change the constitution. But, at least, they do something regarding the imperial and the country's future.

Honestly....these people in charge of the IHA are so *Ugh* closed minded, to put it in a nice way, I dont even want to know what or how far they would go if such situation should arise.

Someone should shake things up a bit. It seems to me that Crown Prince Naruhito, who has a streak for protecting his wife and daughter, should be the one to do so. (Maybe beating the crap out of the IHA and a quick round with his younger brother?)

[bekalc]

I read somewhere that one of the Ashinko's reasons for trying for another child was his fear that the Japanese government would adopt a situation where, the girl rules (only if there's no other male available) with this possiblity, he'd inherit from his brother and than Kako would inherit. Apparently, that possiblity freaked Ashinko out, because he feared that no one would marry Kako. What Japanese "normal" man would marry the empress? Then, would the Japanese except a foreign husband.

Maybe reform will happen after Hisahito..

[dragonsfire8]

Originally Posted by bekalc

I read somewhere that one of the Ashinko's reasons for trying for another child was his fear that the Japanese government would adopt a situation where, the girl rules (only if there's no other male available) with this possiblity, he'd inherit from his brother and than Kako would inherit. Apparently, that possiblity freaked Ashinko out, because he feared that no one would marry Kako. What Japanese "normal" man would marry the empress? Then, would the Japanese except a foreign husband.

Thats a good one (Akishino freaking out that no "normal" Japanese man would marry his daughter). Really good one. One can imagine that one freaking out. It would actually be funny to watch.

However, if the government allows girls to rule, I believe Princess Aiko would be in line for the throne after her father, the Crown Prince, then it would go to Akishino, her uncle, then her cousins, Kako, Mako, then Hisahito.

As for