Tatiana Maria
Majesty
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Touchy issues avoided in panel talks about succession | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
Given adoption would also involve modifications to the current law (which bans adoption in the imperial family), I assume the "through law" third option means simply modifying the law to grant imperial status to those men without adoption by a current member (previously suggested to be Prince Hitachi).
But if the adoption proposal is eventually rejected, how will permitting the same men to join the imperial family through an alternative "third option" be any more acceptable? Or is the panel concerned that Prince Hitachi may be uncooperative?
Does "indicated they want to marry in the near future" imply multiple princesses are already privately engaged and we can expect a couple of royal weddings in the next year or two? (For the possible boyfriends, it might be prudent to marry soon before the public becomes bored of Kei Komuro and begins investigating new royal partners for possible scandals. )
One idea is to allow female members to retain their royal status even after marriage, while the other would allow males from former branches of the imperial family to regain imperial status through adoption by the imperial family.
Those were the broad outlines agreed to at a meeting held Dec. 6 and which will be submitted to the government as the panel’s final report before year-end.
[...]
Sources said the panel is also mulling a third option in the event its two proposals fail to fix the succession issue. That alternative would allow males from former imperial branches to become members of the imperial family through law, in addition to adoption.
Given adoption would also involve modifications to the current law (which bans adoption in the imperial family), I assume the "through law" third option means simply modifying the law to grant imperial status to those men without adoption by a current member (previously suggested to be Prince Hitachi).
But if the adoption proposal is eventually rejected, how will permitting the same men to join the imperial family through an alternative "third option" be any more acceptable? Or is the panel concerned that Prince Hitachi may be uncooperative?
Six members of the family are under the age of 40 and five are female, a number of whom have indicated they want to marry in the near future, according to Imperial Household Agency sources. Thus, family numbers will dwindle further as the law obliges them to relinquish their royal status upon marriage to a commoner.
Does "indicated they want to marry in the near future" imply multiple princesses are already privately engaged and we can expect a couple of royal weddings in the next year or two? (For the possible boyfriends, it might be prudent to marry soon before the public becomes bored of Kei Komuro and begins investigating new royal partners for possible scandals. )
Hajime Sebata, an associate professor of modern Japanese political history at Ryukoku University in Kyoto steeped in matters related to the imperial family, referred to widespread public criticism about Mako’s marriage to Komuro over a money matter when he said: “I feel the hurdle for marriage for Kako, Aiko and Hisahito has become even higher. Finding a way to lighten the psychological stress on imperial family members regarding marriage and childbirth must be taken into account.”