Japan debates female succession

Princess Masako has suffered from pressure to produce a boy

A Japanese government panel has started debating whether women could take the throne in response to a succession crisis in the Imperial Household.

The 10-member panel is scheduled to submit conclusions to Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi in the autumn.

A male heir has not been born since 1965. Many believe three-year-old Princess Aiko, the Crown Prince's daughter, should be allowed to succeed.

However, a handful of conservatives want to preserve the male lineage.

Analysts believe pressure on Princess Masako - the wife of Crown Prince Naruhito - to bear a male heir has contributed to stress-related illnesses which have stopped her fulfilling official duties for more than a year.

I think Japanese nationals would welcome a female monarch in the present era Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi

A draft proposal by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has already recommended that inheritance now be hereditary, regardless of gender.

"We have to study how to stably maintain the imperial succession into the future given the current situation of the imperial family," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masaaki Yamazaki said, reading a statement on behalf of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Mr Koizumi said earlier: "I think Japanese nationals would welcome a female monarch in the present era."

Japan has had eight female monarchs - between the 6th and 18th centuries - but all have reigned in emergency circumstances and none had children who then ascended the throne.

The panel - which includes former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, and Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation - is also expected to discuss whether a firstborn female child would take precedence over a boy born later.

An opinion poll in 2003 suggested that more than 70% of Japanese people supported revising the law to allow female succession, Kyodo news agency said.

A change to the Imperial Household Law to allow female succession requires approval by parliament, but not a referendum.