Latest / Best of: Features / A cartoonist takes Japan’s new imperial succession law to court over male-only heirs

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A cartoonist takes Japan’s new imperial succession law to court over male-only heirs · Best of: Features

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  A cartoonist takes Japanese new imperial succession law to court over male
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  only heirs. This article is being read by
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  an automated voice generated by Everlet. Tokyo, the AP, a popular
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  Japanese cartoonist who has written books on history and monarchy, has sued
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  the government over a revised imperial succession law allowing royals to adopt
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  male relatives from former branch families to father future heirs. The revised
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  law took effect Saturday despite criticism over the male only succession rules
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  in Japan's one thousand five hundred year old monarchy. Next in line
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  after Emperor Naruhito is his younger brother Akashino, followed by the Emperor's
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  twenty year old nephew, Prince Hisahito. There are no other eligible heirs
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  in his generation. The revised law allows adoption of unmarried male descendants,
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  aged fifteen or older, of distant imperial relatives, but only through an
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  unbroken male line, into a branch of the royal family. They would
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  not be able to inherit the throne themselves, but their heirs would
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  be eligible. Four of the eleven former branch families who renounced their
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  royal status in nineteen forty seven remain. Officials say they are at
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  least thirty six generations removed from Naruhito, after splitting from a common
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  male line ancestor six hundred years ago. Critics say they are too
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  distant to be considered relatives. In his lawsuit, Yoshinori Kobayashi says the
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  adoption of former royals who are commoners discriminates against other commoners in
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  violation of Article fourteen of the Constitution, which guarantees equality regardless of
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  race, creed, sex, social status, or family origin. The
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  adoption would introduce a new class system of former imperial branch family
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  in Japan. It's a serious problem, Kobayashi told reporters after filing the
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  lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, a first legal step against the
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  revised law. No trial date has been set. He said the adoption
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  system undermines the fundamental value of the Constitution and changes the monarchy
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  into something completely different. The law.
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  Lets princesses retain their royal status and continue with their official duties
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  after marrying commoners, but does not confer royal status on their husbands
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  and children. It effectively eliminates a chance for Japan's beloved princess Iiko
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  to succeed her father, Naruhito. Kobayashi calls it the Iko Sama exclusion
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  law. The male only succession policy was pushed by the Conservative government
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  of Prime Minister Sene Takeichi, who has said only the paternal bloodline
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  gives authority and legitimacy to the emperor. Legal experts, including those on
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  a government panel on the imperial succession, have also raised concerns over
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  the constitutionality of the adoption system. Kobayashi's lawyer, Rintaro Kuromouchi,
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  said winning the case would be difficult, but there was no other
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  way to raise the issue in Japan, where there is no constitutional
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  court and little hope for the law to be rectified by the
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  current government. In the lawsuit, Kobayashi also demanded damages of one million
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  yen three hundred fifty dollars for psychological suffering experienced by the manga
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  artist, whose works are based on his love of Japan's monarchy, equal
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  rights, and other democratic values. Japan has had eight female monarchs. The
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  paternal line male succession was introduced for the first time in the
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  eighteen ninety Imperial House Law, when Japan promoted patriarchal systems of male
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  superiority.