The Emperor's nuts and girls are a worry

[Taro Toporific]

[GomiGirl]

Sorry but doesn't Crown Prince Naruhito take over next???

He looks pretty healthy to me so I guess there is a while before they need to put little Aiko on the throne..

[Taro Toporific]

Sorry but doesn't Crown Prince Naruhito take over next??? ..

Yes, you're quite correct as the article in this news item explains.
Prince Naruhito is next in succcesion but the "whispering" among the Japanese is deafening...

NEWS that the Japanese Emperor Akihito has prostate cancer is sending nervous tremors through a nation that adores its imperial family but is rapidly running out of heirs.

[GomiGirl]

The panic is probably a bit premature...

But I guess people need something to talk about - especially if it is about a monach.

[Maciamo]

I agree with the previous post. There might be a good point to this situation though ; it could lead to the end of the monarchy, which is the best thing any country could get, as it's a step out of idiot idolatry and taxes spent for people whose only merit was to be born.

[ramchop]

I mean, were else in the world can a PM lose his job not by election but by a secret group of powerful guys who can make or break your job anytime they want. Jeez.

I can think of many places. Depends how you define "election" I suppose.

[ramchop]

My apologies ramchop. I basically meant in a democratically elected government.

hmmmm... I know the first woman PM in the country I hail from wasn't elected by the people. It's fairly common in some democratic systems for the governing party on the slide to get the knives out and replace the leader well before the next election.

[Taro Toporific]

What a bullshit law this one they made in 1947 that forbids an Empress to rule. For hundreds of years this family had both male and female monarchs and then in 1947, some politician who was angry they lost the war installs this crazy rule that keeps the old boy network in check to this day. Wow, how can I not be surprised.

This family has to speak out, my god...

I guess the family did "speak out"...

Prince Mikasa urged female accession to imperial throne
Tuesday August 5, 11:31 PM / Kyodo
Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, urged the Japanese government in 1946 to consider allowing female accession to the imperial throne and criticized a draft bill revising the Imperial Household Law for not granting imperial family members the freedom to marry as they choose, a journalist said Tuesday.
Prince Mikasa, 87, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, known posthumously as Emperor Showa, submitted a document criticizing the draft bill to the now-defunct Privy Council of the imperial household, according to the findings of freelancer Yohei Mori..obtained a copy of the document written by the prince from the Osaka prefectural archives in Osaka through the information disclosure system....