Japan's lower house passed a bill on July 10 aimed at easing a looming imperial succession crisis as the monarchy shrinks with just one young male heir under a male-only succession rule.
The bill would revise the Imperial Household Law to allow the family to adopt male distant relatives over age 15 and let women retain their royal status after marrying outside the family. It does not address the possibility of a woman emperor, leaving 24-year-old Princess Aiko barred from the throne.
Liberal Democratic Party veteran Seiichiro Murakami called ruling out Princess Aiko as emperor "utterly outrageous." Former imperial family member Asahiro Kuni, 81, said adopting distant male relatives would be unrealistic and that he would advise his grandchildren to refuse.
The imperial family now has 16 members, including five men. An Asahi Shimbun poll in May showed 72 percent of respondents favor changing the rules to allow women to ascend the throne. The bill will now be debated in the upper house.