With Emperor Akihito having issued a statement last year suggesting he desires to abdicate, the restrictions imposed on Imperial Family members and its relation to the Constitution's protections of human rights and liberties is again drawing attention.
At the end of March this year, a room on the 34th floor of the Kasumigaseki Building in Tokyo became the site of an elementary school reunion for Gakushuin Primary School, with Emperor Akihito as one of those in attendance.
Around 20 attendees were moved to Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, during World War II, and studied together in junior high school and high school. While many of them live quiet lives now, the Emperor continues to attend to many duties and since becoming Emperor had been unable until now to participate in an elementary school-only reunion.
In order to have their meeting in private, even the participants' families were not allowed in the room, and the Imperial Household Agency staff and Emperor's bodyguards, who are always with him, waited outside. The Emperor moved between seats prepared at each of three tables and spoke to his old friends, after which he remarked, with a satisfied look, "It would be nice if we could keep doing things like this."
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The status of the Emperor and the Imperial Family is defined by the Constitution and the Imperial House Law. The Emperor is currently forbidden from abdicating, and the Crown Prince and eldest grandson in the line of descent are forbidden from disassociating themselves from the Imperial Family. Other members of the Imperial Family can only disassociate from it through a decision made by the Imperial Household Council, which includes Imperial Family representatives, the prime minister and the top justice of the Supreme Court. Male members of the Imperial Family are also required to receive a council decision before marrying.
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Due to duty and security-related concerns, the Emperor and the Crown Prince are required to live on Imperial property like the Imperial Palace and the Akasaka Estate. While members of the Imperial Family are allowed to take up occupations that don't conflict with their status, the higher they are in the line of succession the more public duties they have, and as they are not allowed to refuse to succeed to the position of Emperor, they are, effectively, limited in what jobs they can do.
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In 1982, another member of the Imperial Family, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa made news when he told the Imperial Household Agency he wanted to remove himself from the Imperial Family and focus on working to help the physically disabled. He withdrew his request after being talked out of it, but the issue became the subject of much discussion, including at the Diet.
So far, the national government's stance put forward in debate at the Diet has been that while the Emperor has basic human rights, due to the special case of it being a hereditary position and the Emperor's position as a symbol for the people, a minimal level of restrictions on him are allowed under the Constitution. However, Itsuo Sonobe, a former Supreme Court justice who is knowledgeable about the Imperial Family system, says, "With our society growing older, as long as we recognize a human being as a symbol of state, we should not look at His Majesty's wishes from a constitutional viewpoint, but from a humanitarian one."
He adds, "If the Imperial Family alone stands stuck in time while society changes, there will be people in the future who want to leave behind their Imperial Family position and people who will hesitate to enter into the Imperial Family to positions like that of the empress, which will affect the stable imperial succession."
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