Photo/Illutration Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, enters the Sento Imperial Residence to greet Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko on Jan. 1. (Pool)

Japan’s political parties kicked off full-scale talks to address the shrinking number of imperial family members to ensure stable succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne for generations to come.

Officials of the Imperial Household Agency waited anxiously for any hint of where the May 17 discussions by the ruling and opposition parties were headed.

The issue is particularly pressing as membership to the exclusive club continues to dwindle. Prince Hisahito, who is 17 and the sole son of Crown Prince Fumihito, is the only male in the generation following that of Emperor Naruhito.

The law on succession is currently limited to males of the imperial family.

But with the ruling and opposition parties far apart in their positions on imperial succession, Imperial Household Agency officials have informally made known their concerns.

A former high-ranking official in the agency said, “The issue has reached a critical point, so we hope that some conclusion can be reached.”

In April, Yasuhiko Nishimura, who heads the Imperial Household Agency, waded into what he referred to as an “extremely important matter” by expressing the hope that “steps will be taken after sufficient debate has occurred.”

Nishimura did not directly offer his own views on stable imperial succession.

There are now 17 imperial family members, but with Emperor Emeritus Akihito, 90, and Empress Emerita Michiko, 89, having removed themselves from public life, the other members have had to shoulder the burden of official duties.

However, four other members are already over 70 and cannot reasonably be expected to keep up the pace of official duties as in the past.

Princess Aiko, the only daughter of Naruhito and Empress Masako, graduated from university this spring, so she will take on a larger role now that she is an adult.

But five of the six members, including Aiko, who are under the age of 50, are women. They will lose their status as members of the imperial family if they marry a commoner under provisions of the Imperial House Law.

Various measures have already been taken in response to the decrease in the number of imperial family members.

One is to have only one member of a couple take part in events that in the past they attended together.

But a comprehensive review of the structure is needed as the burden on the remaining imperial family members is expected to increase as time goes on.

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