TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s beloved Princess Aiko is often cheered like a pop star.
During a visit to Nagasaki with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, the sound of her name being shouted by well-wishers along the streets overwhelmed her parents’ joy.
As she turns 24 on Monday, her supporters want to change Japan’s male-only succession law, which bars Aiko, the emperor’s only child, from becoming monarch.
Along with the frustration that the discussion on the rules of succession has stalled, there is a sense of urgency. Japan’s shrinking monarchy is on the brink of extinction. Naruhito’s teenage grandson is the only eligible heir from the younger generation.
Experts say the ban on women should be lifted before the royal family dies, but conservative lawmakers, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, oppose the change.
Aiko’s popularity increases the demand for a fe male monarch
Aiko has gained admirers since she debuted as an adult royal in 2021, when she impressed the public as smart, friendly, brave and funny.
Support for Aiko as a future monarch has surged after her first official solo overseas trip to Laos in November, representing the emperor. During the six-day visit, she met with the highest officials of Laos, visited cultural and historical places and met with the local people.
Earlier this year, Aiko accompanied her parents to Nagasaki and Okinawa. She followed the example of her father, who places great importance on passing on the tragedy of WWII to the younger generations.
“I was always rooting for Princess Aiko to be crowned,” said Setsuko Matsuo, an 82-year-old atomic bomb survivor who arrived at Nagasaki’s peace park hours before the scheduled arrival of Aiko and her parents in the area. “I love everything about her, especially her smile … so comforting,” she told The Associated Press at the time.
Mari Maehira, a 58-year-old office worker who waited to cheer Aiko on in Nagasaki, said she has seen Aiko grow up and “now we want to see her become a future monarch.”
The popularity of the princess has prompted some to pressure lawmakers to change the law.
Cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi has written comic books pushing for legal change to allow Aiko to become a monarch, which supporters keep sending to parliamentarians to raise awareness and get their support for the cause.
Others have set up YouTube channels and distributed leaflets to gain public attention on the issue.
Ikuko Yamazaki, 62, has been using social media to encourage the succession of the emperor’s first child regardless of gender. She says not having Aiko as a successor and the insistence on only male monarchs will cause the monarchy to die.
“The succession system conveys the Japanese mindset on gender issues,” Yamazaki said. “I expect that having a female monarch would dramatically improve the status of women in Japan.”
Aiko’s upbringing
The popular princess was born on December 1, 2001.
Shortly after giving birth to Aiko, her mother, the Harvard-educated former diplomat Masako, developed a stress-induced mental condition, apparently due to criticism for not producing a male heir, from which she is still recovering.
Aiko was known as a bright child who, as a sumo fan, memorized the full names of the wrestlers.
However, she had also faced difficulties: As an elementary school girl, she missed classes for a short time due to bullying. As a teenager, she looked extremely thin and missed classes for a month.
In 2024, Aiko graduated from Gakushuin University, where her father and many other royals studied. Since then she has taken part in her official duties and in the rituals of the palace while also working in the Red Cross Society. On weekends, she enjoys going for walks with her parents and playing volleyball, tennis and badminton with the palace officials.
Japan’s monarchy is in a ‘critical state’
The Imperial Household Law of 1947 only allows male-line succession and forces female royals who marry commoners to lose their royal status.
The rapidly declining Imperial Family has 16 members, down from 30 three decades ago. All are adults.
Naruhito has only two potential younger male heirs, his 60-year-old younger brother, Crown Prince Akishino, and Akishino’s 19-year-old son, Prince Hisahito. Prince Hitachi, younger brother of former Emperor Akihito and third in line to the throne, is 90 years old.
Akishino acknowledged the aging and shrinking royal population, “but nothing can be done under the current system.”
“I think all we can do right now is to reduce our official duties,” he told reporters ahead of his 60th birthday on Sunday.
Last year, the crown prince noted that the royals are “human beings” whose lives are affected by the discussion, a nuanced but rare comment. He saw no change, although palace officials sincerely took his remark, Akishino said Sunday.
Aiko had also previously said that she is aware of the declining royal population, but could not comment on the system. “Under the circumstances, I hope to sincerely fulfill every official duty and help the emperor and empress, as well as other members of the Imperial Family.”
The lack of male successors is a serious concern for the monarchy, which some historians say lasted for 1,500 years. It is also a reflection of Japan’s wider problem of a rapidly aging and shrinking population.
“I think the situation is already critical,” said Hideya Kawanishi, a Nagoya University professor and an expert on the monarchy. His future is totally in the hands of Hisahito and his wife’s potential ability to produce male offspring. “Who wants to marry? If someone does, she will endure enormous pressure to produce a male heir while performing official duties in a superhuman capacity.”
Hisahito must bear the burden and fate of the Imperial Family alone, former Imperial Household Agency chief Shingo Haketa said in a Yomiuri newspaper article this year. “The fundamental question is not whether to allow a male or female line of succession but how to save the monarchy.”
Japan’s male-only succession system is relatively new
Japan has traditionally had male emperors, but there have also been eight female monarchs. The last was Gosakuramachi, who ruled from 1762 to 1770.
The male-only rule of succession became law in 1889 and was carried over to the post-war Imperial Household Law of 1947.
Experts said the system had previously only worked with the help of concubines who, until about 100 years ago, produced half of past emperors.
The government proposed allowing a female monarch in 2005, but Hisahito’s birth allowed nationalists to reject the proposal.
The fruitless search for a male successor
In 2022, a largely conservative panel of experts called on the government to maintain its male line of succession while allowing female members of the family to retain their royal status after marriage and continue their official duties. Conservatives have also proposed adopting male descendants from distant branches of the royal family to continue the male line, an idea considered unrealistic.
The United Nations women’s rights committee in Geneva urged the Japanese government last year to allow a female emperor, saying failure to do so would hamper gender equality in Japan.
Japan dismissed the report as “regrettable” and “inappropriate”, saying the imperial succession is a matter of fundamental national identity.
“Although it is not explained, what they are saying is clearly in favor of male superiority. That is their ideal society,” said Kawanishi, the professor.