Team Aiko

I wrote earlier about Japan's delight that Prince Akishino of Japan and his wife are expecting a child, as the child, if it is a boy, would save the blood line of the Japanese monarchy. Without a boy they are left with having to change the order of succession to allow Princess Aiko, daughter of the Japanese Crown Princess and the real heir(ess) to the throne one could say, to become Crown Princess and eventually queen.

While awaiting the birth, Japanese history professors are emphasising the long unbroken male line of emperors (choosing not to mention the fact that in the middle ages eight female emperors reined Japan). The danger with allowing female succession is that a queen has to marry a non-royal person, in effect a commoner. A Japanese prince has a solution to this problem: 1) restore the royal status of the old prince sovereign families; 2) allow the emperor to adopt a male member of one of these families; 3) revive "extinct" sovereign families by letting their rites be performed by someone from the royal family; and 4) reintroduce royal concubines. All this just to avoid a woman to inherit the throne.