Princess Aiko’s Rising Popularity Fuels Demands to End Japan’s Male-Only Succession Law
Nation demands female emperor as beloved Aiko turns 24 and monarchy faces extinction.
Princess Aiko marked her 24th birthday on Monday amid scenes of near-hysteria rarely seen for Japanese royalty. Crowds in Nagasaki screamed her name louder than for Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako. Elderly atomic-bomb survivors waited hours just to catch a glimpse of her smile. Thousands of ordinary citizens flooded social media declaring that the intelligent, graceful only child of the Emperor must be allowed to reign.
Since her flawless adult debut in 2021 and her triumphant six-day solo diplomatic mission to Laos in November, Aiko has ignited a nationwide movement. Renowned cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi publishes pro-Aiko comics. YouTube channels pump out daily videos. Housewives mail handwritten letters to MPs. Hibakusha openly weep while begging parliament to rewrite the 1947 Imperial House Law so their comforting princess can become Empress Regnant, the first since 1770.
The imperial family is dying. Only three men remain in the line of succession, Emperor Naruhito at 61, his brother Crown Prince Akishino at 60, and Akishino’s teenage son Prince Hisahito at 19. The entire household has shrunk from 30 members three decades ago to just 16 ageing royals today. Even Akishino admitted publicly on Sunday that the monarchy is in a critical state with no remedy under the current male-only system.
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Conservative hardliners led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi refuse to budge. They defend the 1889 rule that once relied on concubines to produce heirs and reject UN calls for gender equality as inappropriate interference. Experts warn the clock is ticking. If Hisahito fails to produce a son, the world’s oldest continuous hereditary monarchy, said to be 1500 years old, will simply cease to exist.
With public support for Princess Aiko soaring to levels never seen for any modern royal, Japan stands at a historic crossroads. Either shatter centuries of male-only tradition and crown the people’s princess, or watch the Chrysanthemum Throne vanish forever under the weight of its own outdated laws.
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