Japan Poll Shows 84% Back Female Emperor

According to Lianhe Zaobao citing Nikkei and Tokyo TV, a latest nationwide poll in Japan found that 84% of respondents support allowing a woman to serve as emperor, highlighting a mismatch between public opinion and the Japanese parliament's July 17 decision to amend the Imperial House Law without permitting a female emperor. The poll found 59% said female imperial family members and their maternal-line descendants should be eligible, while 25% said female members should be eligible but maternal-line descendants should not. Another 8% said neither female imperial family members nor their descendants should be allowed to serve as emperor. The amended law keeps the male-only, patrilineal succession rule first set out in 1889, and also establishes an adoption system for the imperial family to address the small number of male members. Under the revision, 11 male descendants of former imperial branch families who left the imperial household in 1947 may be adopted into the imperial family if they are at least 15 years old, unmarried and childless. However, the men themselves would not be eligible to inherit the throne; any sons they later have would be eligible. Separately, 45% of respondents said the adoption provision was inappropriate, while 42% said it was appropriate. Overall, 49% said they approved of the revised law and 41% said they did not.