Japan: Support expressed for female monarchs

A top Japanese government official has expressed support for legal changes needed to allow women to assume the throne of the world’s oldest monarchy, but suggested the process could take decades.

The comments by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda came two days after Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako became the parents of a baby girl, their first child.

Fukuda, the government’s top spokesman and also the minister in charge of gender equality, said he would support the idea that women can also inherit the throne, according to Tsutomu Himeno, the spokesman for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.