Japan set to pave way for Empress to end Imperial crisis

THE Japanese royal family is set to change its succession laws to enable the three-year-old daughter of the current Crown Prince to become the first Empress for 200 years.

Princess Aiko, the three-year-old daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife, will be next in line after her father.

Japan's royals are facing their most serious succession crisis in centuries. The current law bars women from ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne but no boy has been born to the imperial family since the 1960s.

A government panel of experts began debating an amendment to the law last month but is not due to reach a conclusion until later this year.

Kyodo News Agency quoted an unidentified government official as saying: "Princess Aiko will go next," after the 44-year-old crown prince.

Recent polls have placed public support for a reigning empress at above 80%. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, the head of the 10-member expert panel, has said that public opinion would be the most important factor in their considerations.

The current crisis arose in part because the succession law drafted after World War II part of legal changes redefining the emperor as a ceremonial leader imposed the male-only rule.

The law has put enormous pressure on Crown Princess Masako to have a baby boy, so much so that she suffered a nervous breakdown in late 2003.

The Harvard- and Oxford-educated former diplomat has been forced to spend much of the past year out of the public eye as she recuperates.

Masako gave up a promising career in Japan's Foreign Ministry to marry Naruhito 12 years ago.

Many Japanese had hoped the modern princess would help shake up the conservative, tradition-minded imperial family and the Imperial Household Agency.

Last year, Naruhito unleashed a storm when he suggested that unnamed palace officials had contributed to Masako's illness by disrespecting her background and career.

A woman last sat on the Chrysanthemum Throne from 1762 to 1771, when Empress Gosakuramachi reigned until abdicating in favour of her nephew.

Seven other women have occupied the throne throughout its 1,500 years of documented history, but they all served as temporary caretakers until males could take over.