Welcome to Japan’s New Imperial Era

On October 22, Japanese Emperor Naruhito officially announced his ascendance to the throne. Although the new Imperial Era – Reiwa – technically began on May 1 when Emperor Akihito, of the Heisei era, retired, the proclamation ceremony is an occasion where the Imperial succession is publicly announced. Although the country is celebrating the beginning of the new Reiwa Era, cloudy skies and drizzling rain prior to the beginning of the ceremony hinted at the uncharted waters that Japan is heading into. 

This new era will be pivotal for Japan and its society. 

In a strange way, the Naruhito and his family, both immediate and extended, mirror the most fundamental challenges Japan faces as the country as it moves forward: an aging and shrinking population and the role of women in society. 

The emperor and empress have one daughter, Princess Aiko. Because Japanese Imperial Household Law dictates that the imperial throne can be succeeded only by the oldest male that is next of kin, Princess Aiko cannot inherit the throne from her father. Furthermore, she will lose her status as a member of the imperial family when she marries. Due to this rule, the ascendance of Naruhito has made his younger brother, Prince Akishino, a Crown Prince. Crown Prince Akishino has three children, but only one of them is a son (Prince Haruhito). Prince Akishino’s two daughters – Princesses Kako and Mako – will also lose their status as members of the imperial family when they marry. 

What does this all mean? It means that Prince Haruhito may become one day be the only living member of the imperial family eligible to ascend to the throne. Put simply, without considerable change to the current institutional system, the Japanese imperial household will face a succession crisis in the not so distant future as its population, like that of the country, shrinks.

Although the situation that confronts Emperor Naruhito’s family is aggravated by the Imperial Household Law that prohibits female members of the imperial family from maintaining their status after they marry, the situation runs in close parallel to the accelerated pace with which Japanese society is aging. According to a Japanese government white paper on the low birth rate and its annual report on the aging, Japan entered a phase of declining population in 2011 and the trend has yet to be reversed. These reports forecast that the Japanese population will decline to 80.8 million by 2065, with the working-age population (15-64 years old) decreasing to 45.3 million by then. Conversely, the elderly population (65 years old and above) is forecasted to be 38.4 percent of the total population by 2065.

The debate over how to reverse the low birth rate trend has been closely linked to discussion of the role of women in society in Japan. In today’s Japan, even though women are legally granted equal opportunities when it comes to employment, the prospects for them achieving their full professional potential remain dismal as the expectation persists that women should care for children and the elderly. As a result, more women are choosing either not to marry, not to have children after they marry, or only having one child – all of which contribute to the shrinking population.

One of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s slogans in his economic and social policies has been “Toward a society in which all women shine.” The aim being to achieve a society in which women feel more encouraged to pursue both career and motherhood, the best chance to reverse the current demographic trend. Despite institutional and legal changes that were made to help women (especially working mothers or those who seek to re-enter the workforce after a few years of staying home with their infant children), women in Japan continue to face challenges in staying on their originally-intended career paths, including finding affordable childcare with extended hours, greater flexibility in their ability to telecommute, and eliciting greater support from their spouses, families and employers. 

Looking at today’s imperial household, the empress is an embodiment of the challenges that women in Japan have faced. Empress Masako, an aspiring diplomat whose father was a highly accomplished diplomat that served as one of the judges in the International Court of Justice in the Hague until last year, had to give up her career when she became crown princess. The ambivalence she showed about leaving the Japanese foreign service during the press conference at the time of her engagement in 1993 even led to a Newsweek article entitled “Reluctant Princess.” Following her marriage, she struggled to adjust to the environment in which she was only expected to play a ceremonial role in public spaces and felt constant pressure, as crown princess, to give birth to a male child. Her challenges were so severe that, prior to the imperial succession, many were genuinely concerned about whether she would be able to fully perform her responsibility as empress.

However, the image of her cheerfully chatting with visiting U.S. President Donald Trump in May evaporated such concerns. Rather, the image of the new emperor and empress engaging in conversation with foreign visitors without interpreters spread as the image of a new imperial family – traditional yet internationalized. Her reentry into the public eye as empress would not have been possible without the steadfast support of her husband, Emperor Naruhito, who gave her his unwavering support despite the criticism he faced that, as crown prince, he should push her to perform more public duties as crown princess. 

Now, as the focus of the debate turns to the future of Princes Aiko and her cousins, what transpires in the discussion will reveal how much progress Japanese society has (or has not) made in the changing role of women in the society. The impact of this debate will not stop at whether changes will be made to the Imperial Household Law to adjust to the reality of the imperial family. It will also have a profound impact on how Japan, as an aging society, will collectively think about the changing role of women.