The British royal family only changed their succession rules in 2013, when Prince William and Kate were expecting their first child. It was like it suddenly occurred to everyone that Kate could be pregnant with a girl, so they changed the rules to say that if the first-born is a girl, she can inherit the throne. The rule change was made, but as we all know, William and Kate welcomed Prince George and so it didn’t matter in the end. But that’s how recently these succession rules changed in the UK. In Japan, they’re even further behind. Emperor Naruhito’s only child is a girl, and she is completely ineligible to inherit the throne. The Imperial family is quite clearly running out of male heirs. But instead of clearing the way to allow women to inherit the throne, they’re just expanding the way they can recognize distant male relations. Japan’s parliament also made some much-needed changes about how they kick out blood princesses as soon as the princesses “marry commoners.”

Japanese parliament recently made a major change to the country’s rules of succession, but one major restriction remains in place.

On July 17, the upper house passed a bill allowing distant male relatives over 15 to be adopted into the imperial line of succession. The rule change — the first amendment to the main text of the Imperial House Law since 1949 — comes amid concern about dwindling male heirs.

However, no changes have been made to the law that prevents women from inheriting the throne, meaning that Emperor Naruhito’s only child, Princess Aiko, is still ineligible to succeed her father on the throne. Currently, the emperor’s 60-year-old brother, Fumihito, also known as Crown Prince Ashikino, is in line to inherit, followed by his 19-year-old son, Prince Hisahito.

The new bill, which already cleared the lower house and will now move through the final legal procedures, will allow male descendants of 11 former imperial branches to rejoin the royal family, increasing the number of family members available to attend to royal duties and public appearances. The branches of the royal family were initially culled down following Japan’s defeat in World War II.

Another major change made by the parliamentary ruling is that female members of the imperial family will also be able to retain their royal status if they marry commoners.

In 2021, Princess Mako, the niece of the emperor and eldest child of Crown Prince Ashikino and Crown Princess Kiko, renounced her royal titles and left the imperial family in order to marry her college sweetheart, Kei Komuro. They later moved to the United States, where they work as lawyers, and welcomed their first child in May 2025.

[From People]

I still remember the controversy around poor Princess Mako. The Japanese media was incredibly cruel to her, and there was a very real pressure campaign to break up Mako and Kei. They still got married, with Mako giving up her titles and royal life. She and Kei moved to New York, welcomed a child and we barely hear about them. I doubt they go back to Japan very often. But that’s how the Imperial system is designed, with nothing but sorrow for the women. A whole-ass royal family would rather welcome distant second-cousins into the dynasty rather than rightful-heiress daughters.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.