The sexist rule threatening to bring down Japan's royal family as the Imperial House faces extinction
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Japan's royal family, the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy, is facing a succession crisis - because women still aren't allowed to take to the throne. Emperor Naruhito, 64, has just one daughter by his wife Empress Masako, Princess Aiko, who was born in 2001 after the royal couple underwent fertility treatment.
![[Emperor Naruhito, 64, has just one daughter by his wife Empress Masako (pictured together), Princess Aiko, who was born in 2001 after the royal couple underwent fertility treatment]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/27/16/92550543-14128251-image-a-61_1732725889420.jpg)
Female births have far outweighed male births in recent generations of the Japanese royal family and the dynasty currently has just three male heirs, one of whom is already in his 80s. There's Fumihito, Crown Prince Akishino, 58, who is the Emperor's brother, Prince Hisahito - Fumihito's 19-year-old son, and third-in-line Prince Hitachi, who is 88 and the brother of former Emperor Emeritus.
![[The dynasty currently has just three male heirs, one of whom is already in his 80s. There's Fumihito, Crown Prince Akishino , 58, who is the Emperor's brother, Prince Hisahito - Fumihito's 19-year-old son, and third-in-line Prince Hitachi, who is 88 and the brother of former Emperor Emeritus (pictured with former Empress Emerita Michiko)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/27/16/92550537-14128251-image-m-63_1732725896603.jpg)
As well as a shortage of heirs, the monarchy is also ageing - with seven of them being over 60 - and rapidly dwindling, with members making up the imperial family reduced to 16 following the death of Princess Yuriko on November 15. Yuriko, who outlived her husband and three sons, was the wife of wartime Emperor Hirohito's brother and the oldest member of the royal family. She died at a Tokyo hospital, the Imperial Household Agency said, and her funeral was held on Tuesday.
![[Emperor Naruhito's daughter Aiko, now 22, already lives a life moulded by the dynasty she's part of - surrounded by intense levels of security and unable to have political views or vote]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/27/16/92550555-14128251-image-a-65_1732725967611.jpg)
Being a woman born into the country's Imperial House isn't an entirely enviable role; a Japanese princess can currently never be Empress and must lose her royal title if she chooses to wed a commoner. Her children with said commoner would also never form part of the Imperial House.
![[Mako Komuro, formerly Princess Mako of Akishino, (pictured left) enjoys an upper-class quiet life in New York]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/27/16/92550557-14128251-image-a-64_1732725964531.jpg)
