Thank you for those articles, ChiaraC.
I was quite surprised to read the comments made by Princess Akiko and Prince Akishino. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time members of the Royal Family have actually spoken
on the issue, isn't it? In any case, I agree with Akiko: the situation must resolve sooner than later because it will hugely influence the career and personal choices of the Princesses.
You are very welcome!
Depends on what you mean by "on the issue".
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
You certainly remember that considering the proposed changes of the law under Koizumi, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa
did comment (that famous
concubine comment ![Whistling :whistling: :whistling:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
, I do not think that we have to repeat it), and even if it is less known, also the late Princess Takamatsu commented at the time and said that as there
had been reigning empresses before in Japan´s history, she could not conceive why there should not be
another.
Regarding the present discussion about the female branches, Prince Akishino as well as Princess Akiko have, in fact, made more controversial remarks in the past than those that are quoted here... On his birthday press conference in November 2011, Akishino said,"I would leave it to Diet deliberations to discuss the institutional aspects of the Imperial House Law, but my own, and the crown prince's opinions, could be sounded out (on this issue)." In my opinion, this request was clearly unconstitutional.
During the debate about changing the succession law that took place in 2004/2005, it was expressly said that the imperial family members would not be asked to give their opinion as this was a political issue and the imperial family is supposed to absolutely refrain from commenting on political matters. Sure, the emperor still managed to have his view known, but that is probably as it has been ever since the end of the war: officially, the tenno has nothing to do with politics, but inofficially, well, you know...
But what Akishino did there was quite another story. He clearly expected to be consulted and - publicly! - said so. I see but two possible ways to explain this behaviour: either he had no clue concerning the constitutional role of the tenno and the imperial family, or he willfully ignored it.
Japanese experts on these matters did not fail to notice that, too. After Prince Akishino had made his remarks,
Noriho Urabe, professor emeritus at Kobe University, said, obviously with some amazement, that the opinions of the Emperor and other members of the Imperial family should have nothing to do with how the Imperial family system should work:
"The Emperor is not supposed to express his opinions in public forums, which also should be applied for other members of the Imperial family," Urabe said, citing two stipulations of the Constitution that the Emperor's position derives from the will of the people, and that he shall not have powers related to government.
Princess Akiko, in her turn, gave in January 2012 an exclusive interview to the Mainichi on the matter which admittedly came as a surprise to me. I suppose that her father, the late Prince Tomohito, felt the need to again give his opinion on this matter but could not do it himself as he was already hospitalized. While Princess Akiko claimed in the interview that she intended to refrain from making "any political statements" and emphasized that the issue was "up to the state (the government and the Diet)," she was not satisfied with asking the lawmakers to quickly decide the matter (which is clearly a personal - and very just! - comment). Instead, at a time, when the discussion was only about allowing or not allowing female-headed branches, Akiko was among the first to reintroduce the proposal of granting members of the former collateral branches imperial status into the discussion. "The current debate appears to be concerned (only) with whether or not to allow matrilineal Imperial Family branches," she said. "I feel uncomfortable about that."
With all due respect, at that time to even
mention the possibility of reinstating former imperial family members
was undoubtedly a political statement. The very reason why Koizumi in his attempt to change the succession law did not even consider this option was that it was supposed to be absolutely unacceptable to the broader public in general. Only a small ultraconservative minority proposed it - among them Princess Akiko´s father Prince Tomohito...