Nearly 70 per cent of Japanese want the law to be changed to permit an empress, with observers suggesting that the recent emergence of Princess Aiko on the international stage is fanning a groundswell of support for her to become a future monarch.
A poll by the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun published last Sunday showed that 69 per cent of respondents favoured revisions to the Imperial Household Law to allow a woman to assume the Chrysanthemum Throne, with a further 24 per cent undecided on the matter.
Just 7 per cent said they were opposed to a female monarch.
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The support rate is broadly in line with other similar polls in the past few years, with the percentage of those against legal revisions declining. A similar poll conducted by Kyodo News in October 2019 showed that 13.5 per cent of the Japanese public opposed having an empress.
Princess Aiko, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, is helping to convince more conservatives that they have nothing to fear from an empress, according to Hiromi Murakami, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
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Murakami said she was not surprised by the poll numbers, saying the public had more positive feelings and confidence towards Princess Aiko as their potential monarch.