Is it possible for Japan to have a female emperor in the future?

菁英小記者 陳方白 劉薇禛平

INTRODUCTION

Japan is one of 26 countries around the world that still has an imperial family. The current Emperor has a daughter but not a son， which poses a very serious question for succession. According to “The Imperial Household Law，” the royal line passes through the male children.Therefore， is it possible for Japan to have a female emperor in the future？

RESEARCH METHOD

By reading The Chrysanthemum and the Sword， In the Dynasty of the Dying Emperor and Princess Masako Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne， plenty of valuable and worthy information about this topic is gathered， examined， and synthesized.In this case， I use the information in these books as thebackbone of my essay.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The Imperial House of Japan， also referred to as the Imperial family or the Yamato Dynasty， comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning emperor of Japanwho undertake official and public duties （http：//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Japan）. The duties as an Emperor are passed down the line through their male children. The succession is regulated by “The Imperial Household Law，” which is a statute in Japanese law that governs the line of imperial succession， the membership of the imperial family， and several other matters pertaining to the administration of the Imperial Household. “It was passed during the Shōwa era （from 1926 to 1989） on January 16， 1947， by the last session of the Imperial Diet. This law superseded the Imperial Household Law of 1889， which had enjoyed co-equal status with the Constitution of the Empire of Japan and could only be amended by the emperor. The revised statute is subordinate to the Constitution of Japan， which went into effect on May 3， 1947.” （http：//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Household_Law ）

Nowadays， aging problem is highly serious around the world， and it is especially serious in Japan， even in the imperial family. The recent empress of Japan whose name is Masako became distressed after the marriage due to the high pressure of giving birth to a male successor. Masakos first pregnancy was announced in December 1999， but she miscarried. On December 1st 2001， Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako had a daughter——Aiko， Princess Toshi. She was the first and the only child of Naruhito and Masako. Unfortunately， everyone knew that Aiko could never be the successor， given Japanese tradition.The Imperial Household tried to find a way to solve the tough situation. However， they could not find any male memberthat was a proper choice for the successor. Thereby， the best way to solve the trouble was to change the law and allow the royal family to have female emperor （Ben Hills， 2009）.

However， on September 6， 2006， Naruhitos younger brother， Fumihito， Prince Akishino， had a baby boy. It was beyond all doubt that the law would not be changed， and the dynasty could continue through the male line. Prince Fumihito would be the successor of Emperor Naruhito， and Prince Hisahito would be the successor of Fumihito. （Ben Hills， 2009）.

However， I hold my perspective that this situation will not last too long. First and foremost， in Japan history， there have been overall 8 female emperors. In this case， history testifies that in certain circumstance， the appearance of a female emperor is acceptable and reasonable. Furthermore， the government holds the similar opinion as mine. In 2005， Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi realized peoples thoughts and intended to change the law （Ben Hills， 2009）. Although the law is not published， this means that the same thing would happen in the future if there is only a female successor in the royal family in the future. Moreover， the citizens in Japan support having female emperor. In 2006 February， NHK set a survey to 1019 people aged over 20 after releasing the news of the pregnancy of Prince Fumihitos wife. 71% of respondents agreed and 11% people disagreed. In 2009， when Prince Hisahito was three， NHK conducted a survey of people aged over 20， and 2043 people responded to this survey. 77% of people agreed with having a female emperor， and 14% people disagreed. In 2019 March， Jiji news agency announced their result about female emperor. 69.8% people agreed and 11.2% people disagreed （Zhihu）. In general， we can notice that news result from 2005 to 2019 indicated that the agreement is always more than the disagreement. Therefore， for the public， it is not problematic to accept a female emperor. Besides， people in Japan are not favor in Prince Fumihito. In their eyes， he does not follow the moral code， and he has negative reputation. The negative comments are caused by his gossip news. Although it was just gossip， Fumihito became a character with improper behavior in Japanese opinions. Plus， in other countries， having female emperor might not invoke any controversy. Nowadays， 7 European countries allow the existence of female successor， and Thailand also permits having female emperor too though it is in Asia， which means that Japan is able to accept the female emperor in modern society.

Although the status of women in Japanese society has traditionally been inferior to that of men， there has been a great deal of change in popular perception. This has also had an influence in thinking about the royal succession， although for the foreseeable future， Japan will still have a male emperor.

陳方白

年級：高三

城市：北京

就讀學(xué)校：北京師范大學(xué)附屬實(shí)驗(yàn)中學(xué)國際部

未來申請目標(biāo)專業(yè)：國際政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)、社會學(xué)、東亞文化

對于仍是高中生的我，寫論文是一件“新鮮事”。縱觀整個過程，定下論文題目我用了將近一年。從虛到實(shí)，從一開始只能說出想要研究日本文化到最后定題去研究女性天皇在日本皇室中出現(xiàn)的可能性;從面到點(diǎn)，從大量閱讀文獻(xiàn)資料到總結(jié)重點(diǎn);從零到有，批注滿滿的書上卻不知道自己到底想要什么到最終的成稿出現(xiàn)，這整個過程就像是小寶寶從咿呀學(xué)語到對答自如的變化。我了解到了論文是如何創(chuàng)作的，研究是如何進(jìn)行的，這一切都為我未來的大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)奠定了堅實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)。