Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
There are many issues to be debated in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election campaign, but there is one thing that I want to make sure of. It is the measures to secure the sufficient number of imperial family members, which is currently being discussed at the National Diet.

CDP’s Noda resists reinstatement of former imperial family members

Japan is a constitutional monarchy that has the emperor as the “symbol of the unity of the people.” However, imperial family members to support the emperor may disappear if the situation goes unchanged. Amid such a sense of crisis in 2021, the then Yoshihide Suga government established a panel of experts to discuss about measures to secure a stable succession to the imperial throne, including the creation of female imperial family branches. In a report compiled by the panel in January 2022, the government took seriously the precedent and the imperial family’s tradition that successive imperial thrones have been inherited through the male line without exception, and stated that securing the number of imperial family members is a pressing task. The report made proposals that (1) female imperial family members would retain their status even after their marriage, and that (2) imperial male-line males would become imperial family members.

Imperial family matters should not be discussed in terms of partisanship. Because of this reason, most political parties supported the government proposals. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, which has strongly advocated the creation of female imperial family branches, has given up on coordinating opinions within the party because not a small number of tradition-oriented lawmakers strongly endorsed the second proposal for reinstating imperial male-line males to imperial family. The CDP has submitted a “discussion summary” that included conflicting opinions.

During the recent ordinary session of the Diet, the House of Representatives speaker and the House of Councillors president took the lead in trying to coordinate the opinions of all parties. However, the coordination failed due to opposition from some politicians including CDP’s former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda who sticked to the creation of female imperial family branches. Based on House of Representatives Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga’s belief that the issue should not be shelved, the leaders of the two Diet chambers continued to hear opinions from each political party even after the Diet session. At a press conference on August 7, Nukaga said that while the first proposal to allow female imperial family members to retain their status after their marriage was roughly approved, there were positive and negative opinions about the second proposal for the reinstatement of imperial male-line males to imperial family. The second proposal would continue to be debated, he added. An apparent reason for the lack of progress in the coordination of opinions may be the opposition from such lawmakers as Noda.

LDP’s Ishiba and Kono accepting a female-line emperor

Among politicians running for the LDP presidential election, former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba and Digital Minister Taro Kono have made statements indicating their support for a female-line emperor, contrary to the imperial tradition. If Ishiba or Kono becomes the LDP leader, how would the proposals to secure the sufficient number of imperial family members based on imperial family traditions be treated? It cannot be ruled out that Ishiba or Kono could team up with Noda to remake a female-line emperor proposal.

In order to avoid such a situation, I would like lawmakers and members of the LDP eligible to vote at the election to demonstrate their resolute stance of defending imperial family traditions.

In 2017, the Legislative Bureaus of the two Diet chambers, which serve as the secretariat for the two chamber leaders’ coordination of opinions, compiled a resolution attached to a bill for a special Imperial House Act exception to make the abdication of Emperor Akihito possible. The resolution mentioned the creation of female imperial family branches as proposed by some opposition parties. Politicians who respect imperial family traditions are asked to scrutinize the drafting of a unified opinion by the Legislative Bureaus of the two Diet chambers to ensure that they do not go astray.

Michio Ezaki is a member of the Planning Committee at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a guest professor at Reitaku University.