LDP Shows Understanding on Imperial Succession Plan; Former Male Members Could Be Adopted Back into Imperial Family

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:49 JST, April 5, 2024

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday expressed understanding for a plan to use the adoption system to restore the Imperial status of former Imperial family members.

The plan was presented in a report compiled by a government advisory panel in 2021 as a possible way to increase the number of Imperial family members.

On the day, the LDP held a meeting of a party panel, set up directly under the party president, that looks for ways to ensure a stable succession to the Imperial throne.

“We would like to deepen the discussion so that we can present a clear future direction for the issue,” LDP Vice President Taro Aso, who chairs the panel, said at the meeting. He suggested they would accelerate efforts to build consensus in the party.

The government advisory panel presented two main plans in the 2021 report. One is to let women stay in the Imperial family after marriage, and the other is to use adoption to restore the Imperial status of men in the male line of the Imperial lineage who have left the Imperial family.

The LDP showed understanding of the first plan at a meeting in March. At the latest meeting, the party confirmed it would give priority to discussing the two plans to ensure a stable Imperial succession.

As a backup plan in case the two plans fail to sustain the Imperial family, the report proposes law changes to restore the Imperial status of former male Imperial family members in the male line. The LDP panel plans to discuss the issue in line with this policy.