Japanese lawmakers enacted a historic revision to the 19th-century Imperial House Law on July 17, expanding who can be members of the imperial family while insisting only paternal-lineage men can become emperor.
The bill cleared the House of Councillors after passing the House of Representatives the week before, completing its journey through the Diet, Japan’s parliament. It now moves through final legal procedures before taking effect.
Under the new law, female members of the imperial family will be able to retain their status after marrying a commoner, rather than automatically losing it as the current law requires.
Unmarried male descendants of distant imperial relatives, provided they come from the paternal line and are 15 or older, can be adopted into the existing imperial household. That second measure concerns those stripped of imperial status in 1947….
Japan Locks In Male-Only Emperor Rule
