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The new law permits royal women to marry commoners without losing their royal status. For many years, female members of the Imperial Family were expected to give up their titles and styles should they marry outside of the aristocracy. Such was the case for Princess Mako, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and the niece of current Emperor Naruhito, who moved to the US following her wedding to her university sweetheart, Kei Komuro. The Princess declined the rites of a royal wedding as well as the payment traditionally offered to royal women should they choose to resign their Imperial status.
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But still, Japanese law forbids women from inheriting the throne. It means that Princess Aiko, the eminently popular 24-year-old daughter of the Emperor, cannot follow in her father’s footsteps – despite calls from politicians and citizens alike for her to become Empress.
When Princess Aiko, who bears the title Princess Toshi, was born on 1 December 2001, the inheritance situation was so precarious that it sparked a national debate as to whether Japan should allow a woman to serve as Empress Regnant. In 2006, then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi addressed the controversy in his annual keynote speech, pledging to change the law and permit women to inherit the throne.
Crown Princess Masako with an infant Princess Aiko in 2002
Junko Kimura/Getty ImagesThese proposals stagnated when Fumihito, Prince Akishino and his wife, Kiko, Princess Akishino, welcomed Prince Hishahito on 6 September 2006. Prince Hishahito is now second in line to the throne after his father. He was the first male heir to be born to the family in 41 years. The year following the Prince’s birth, new Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced that he had axed the bill to alter inheritance law.