Japanese succession

BBC News website has article that the PM has announced the introduction of a
female succession bill to parliament.

Dag T. Hoelseth...

Why not post the link while you are at it:

Frank R.A.J. Maloney...

Here's a pointer to the article in the Globe and Mail entitled "Japanese to
make room for empress",

The article begins: "The Japanese government will submit a bill this year to
allow women to ascend the imperial throne for the first time in centuries,
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday in a speech to Parliament."

It says the PM did not give any details of the bill or a timetable for its
submission, but he said that it "would be in line with the findings of a
high-level panel, which has recommended letting female heirs assume the
Chrysanthemum Throne."

Meanwhile, to recap some stories previously discussed here, the BBC News is
carrying two other, older stories about the succession issue.

concerns Prince Tomohito's remarks in a private newsletter that imperial
concubines should be reintroduced. He admits that the idea "might be a
little difficult considering the social climate in and outside the country."

He also suggested the reinstatement of "former members of the old
aristocracy who left the Imperial Family after Japan's defeat in World War
II."

The other, from January 2002
article by the late Princess Kikuko supporting the idea of a female
succession. She was, having died in 2004, "the 90-year-old widow of the late
Emperor Hirohito's younger brother, Prince Takamatsu. . ."

Victorian eras in Britain, there were many examples in foreign countries

cj.buyers...

So great, in fact, that for female Japanese, she doesn't even seem to
register!

where a nation thrived under the rule of a queen."