Opinion Princess Aiko should be heir not spare By Juliet Hindell	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
愛子さまを後継者に 愛子さまがお生まれになって1ヵ月がたったが、皇位継承問題についてはいまだに具体的な話し合いがなされていない。皇室典範を変えて女帝を認めることは時代遅れといわれる皇室にとってよいことではないだろうか。

The arrival of a healthy baby in any family is cause for celebration but the arrival of Princess Aiko in Japan's Imperial family is of special significance. After eight years of marriage, the Crown Prince and Princess have finally been blessed with a child. They are to be heartily congratulated.

But alas for them and her, the hope that this birth would end anxiety about the future of the Chrysanthemum Throne turns out to be premature. Will Princess Aiko be the heir or the spare? The answer depends on whether Japan abolishes an outdated and sexist law.

The law says that only males may ascend to the Imperial throne, and if Princess Aiko is to become Empress in her own right, one day, that law must be changed. So change it!

Politicians of all parties have voiced their support for a female monarch, and, more importantly, public opinion polls show that the large majority of Japanese would not be against a woman on the throne. But instead of getting down to this important business, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said a proper, unhurried debate must take place.

Any delay is, as far as I am concerned, bad for the Imperial family and bad for Japan. A failure to change the law quickly implies that the Imperial couple are expected to try again, and, with luck, have a boy next time. To my mind, this is cruel and unusual punishment. I do hope that they may be able to have at least one more child, not least to be a companion to Princess Aiko. But the idea that they have to keep trying until a male comes along is extreme.

By delaying, by dilly-dallying, by not acting, Japan appears stuck in the past. To the outside world, it looks like a country where women are still not equal to men, whatever the reality may be in everyday life. The Imperial family has had to struggle in recent years to remain relevant to modern Japan. What better way to prove that they move with the times than to have the prospect of a woman as Empress?

Of course, it is not the members of the Imperial family themselves who will decide, and we may never know their opinion on this matter, as they are so closely guarded by the civil servants in the Imperial Household Agency.

But it seems hard to believe that a dynasty allegedly directly descended from a woman — the sun goddess Amaterasu — should have anything against the female sex. The law that bars women from succeeding is not even an age-old Imperial tradition but a 19th century invention.

Perhaps some people are worried that a female monarch will cause succession problems of her own in the future. Who would an Empress marry, since most of Japan's nobility was abolished after World War II? Where's the problem — let her marry a commoner, like her father and grandfather before her. Let's also hope that she will be allowed to choose who she marries.

Monarchies are, in their very essence, outdated institutions but if they are to serve any purpose they should have some connection with the modern world. I hope that in the near future we will no longer see the wife of the Japanese Emperor following demurely two steps behind. But instead, a woman, an Empress in her own right, walking out in front.

Shukan ST: Jan. 4, 2002

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