Japan Lower House passes law on royal abdication

Tokyo, June 2: Japan’s Lower House of Parliament passed a bill on Friday that allows ageing Emperor Akihito to step down, as it also called for a rare debate on the role of women in the male-dominated monarchy.

Japan has not had an imperial abdication in two centuries and there was no law to deal with 83-year-old Akihito’s surprise retirement request after nearly three decades on the Chrysanthemum Throne.

The popular monarch shocked the country last summer when he signalled his desire to hand the crown to his eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, citing age and declining health — he has been treated for prostate cancer and had heart surgery.

The one-off bill is widely expected to become law next week after passage through the Upper House.

The abdication must take place within three years of the bill becoming law or it expires — and it only applies to Akihito.

Some feared that changing the law to allow any Emperor to abdicate could put Japan’s future monarchs at risk of being subject to political manipulation. Japan has had abdications in its long imperial history, but the last one was over 200 years ago and politicians had to craft legislation to make it possible because there was no provision for it in the law.

The status of the Emperor is highly sensitive in Japan given its 20th century history.