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Japan welcomed a new highly eligible bachelor on Friday as Prince Hisahito, the imperial family’s last hope for long-term survival unless the rules are changed to allow female succession, turned 18.
His formal coming-of-age ceremony has been delayed until at least 2025 to allow him to finish school, according to the Imperial Household Agency. However, they released a video showing him strolling in the woods, expressing his “extreme interest” in natural history.
“I hope to learn more through each experience, absorbing various aspects and growing through them,” the prince was quoted as saying.
Hisahito is the only son of Crown Prince Akishino, 58, and Crown Princess Kiko, 57, and is second in line to succeed his uncle, Emperor Naruhito, 64.
Although Naruhito has a daughter, Aiko, 22, she cannot succeed her father under the Imperial Household Law, enacted in 1947, due to her gender.
Royal women must also leave the family upon marrying a commoner, as was the case in 2021, when Hisahito’s other sister, former princess Mako, married her university sweetheart.
This rule does not apply to male members of the family. For instance, Naruhito’s father, Akihito, 90, married Michiko, 89, the daughter of a flour magnate, after meeting her on a tennis court in 1959.
The imperial family, whose history is said to stretch back 2,600 years, formally renounced its divine status after Japan’s defeat in World War II and no longer holds political power.
Akihito, who abdicated in 2019 due to age and health concerns, is credited with modernising the institution.
The Imperial Household Agency launched its first Instagram account in April, but most of the photos are formally staged, showing the activities of the current emperor, his wife, and daughter.
In May, lawmakers began discussing potential relaxations to the strict succession rules, and a recent Kyodo News poll revealed 90 percent public support for female succession.
However, resistance among conservative MPs, who see the royals as the embodiment of a patriarchal Japanese family, makes such change unlikely in the near future.
Aside from Prince Hisahito and his father, the only other heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne is the emperor’s childless uncle, Prince Hitachi, 88.
AFP
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