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Aiko, Princess Toshi: from being bullied to likely empress of Japan
Nothing to do, there Princess Aiko of Japan she will not be Empress and will not succeed her father. The reason? According to the advisers and experts consulted by the Japanese government it is unthinkable that a woman can sit on Throne of the Chrysanthemum.
Thus fades the dream of millions of Japanese citizens who had expressed a favorable opinion on the change of course and the modernization of the kingdom and its rules. The Princess is the only daughter of the current emperor Naruhito and his wife Masako, but despite the lack of males in the family, the commission created to find a solution that guarantees continuity to the Empire has established that women cannot be included in the line of succession.
A position contrary to the will of the population who had had the opportunity to have their say through various polls from which a clear opening had emerged. Yet, for the moment, the prime minister’s conservative line has prevailed Yoshihide Suga, who was firmly opposed to the possibility of a woman sitting on the throne. And this for a very simple reason: it has always been done this way.
Yet, there was some precedent, albeit momentary: from the empress Jitō (690-697) to Kōken (749-758), up to Go-Sakuramachi (1762-70), all regents, waiting for their children to grow up. or a male heir to come.
In fact, for 125 generations the imperial family has seen only males succeed one after the other, to preserve a hypothetical lineage that is now completely obsolete. The problem is that there are no more male descendants: Naruhito, 61 years old and current Emperor, had only one daughter, the 21-year-old Aiko, but in her place her brother will ascend the throne, Akishino, who in turn has only one son, Prince Hisahito, born in 2006. Apart from the two of them, there are no other men in the line of succession.
This means that if Hisahito does not have any sons in the future, the Japanese imperial family would risk extinction. For this reason, an attempt was made to modify the law regarding the line of succession, creating a commission that could assess the situation. At the moment the simplest hypothesis, namely that of allowing women to become empresses, has been set aside.
The possibility remains on the table of changing another aspect of the law, the one that currently prevents princesses from marrying a bourgeois. Those who do so lose their status, just as happened to her aunt, Princess Sayako, who decided to marry a commoner, moving from the Royal Palace to a simpler Tokyo apartment.
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