Masako had apparently had strong misgivings about life in the conservative royal household. But Naruhito persevered, phoning her night after night during their eight-month courtship and finally winning her heart by promising to protect her from the worst demands of life behind the palace moat. Koizumi says he would welcome. The very thought of a female on the throne is anathema to some conservatives, who in pre-war days saw the emperor as divine. But calls for change are mounting.
Tradition provides a clear precedent.
Kanzaki said the statute could be revised at the next extraordinary session of parliament in the autumn, depending on the views of the imperial family and Imperial Household Agency. Seven of the country's 125 sovereigns have been women, the last in 1770. Legend also has it that the imperial family is descended from a goddess, the sun deity Amaterasu. Only after Japan's emergence as a modern state in 1868 were laws enacted banning a woman from inheriting the throne. Nor is there anything in the postwar Constitution about royal succession.