Prince Hisahito becomes first royal male in Japan to reach adulthood in 4 decades

The New Diplomat
Writer

Ad

Tinubu Departs Brazil for Nigeria After State Visit

By Abiola Olawale President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has concluded a three-day state visit to Brazil, departing the country for Abuja on Wednesday, August 27, 2025. The New Diplomat reports that the presidential jet took off from Brasília International Airport Air Force Base, with a ceremonial send-off attended by Brazil’s Secretary for Africa and the Middle…

President’s son jailed 6 years in fraud case as power tussle soars in Equatorial Guinea

• Two brothers at war over who succeeds Nguema Mbasogo By Obinna Uballa An Equatorial Guinea court has sentenced Ruslan Obiang Nsue, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to six years in prison for illegally selling a plane belonging to the state airline, Ceiba Intercontinental, a case analysts say reflects growing rivalry within the…

Details: Why Roosevelt Ogbonna Quit Access HoldCo board

• He remains Bank MD, Says Access By Obinna Uballa Access Holdings Plc has explained that Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, resigned from the Board of the HoldCo to comply with regulatory guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The company, in a statement signed…

Ad

In a big milestone for Japan’s royal family, Prince Hisahito turned 18 on Friday, becoming the first male royal family member to reach adulthood in almost four decades. It is a significant development for a family that has ruled for more than a millennium but faces the same existential problems as the rest of the nation — a fast-aging, shrinking population.

Hisahito, who is set to become the emperor one day, is the nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. His father, Crown Prince Akishino, was the last male to reach adulthood in the family, in 1985.

Hisahito is the youngest of the 17-member all-adult imperial family, which currently has only four men.

His status as the last heir apparent poses a major problem for a system that doesn’t allow empresses. The government is debating how to keep succession stable without relying on women.

The 1947 Imperial House Law, which largely preserves conservative pre-war family values, only allows a male to succeed to the throne and forces female royal members who marry commoners to lose their royal status.

His older cousin, Princess Aiko, the only child of Naruhito and his wife Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, is the general public’s favorite as the future empress. But the existing law forbids Masako to take over that role even though she comes from a direct line of descent.

The succession chart can get confusing: Naruhito is the emperor. His brother, Akishino, is second in line. Hisahito, the son of Akishino, comes next.

An earlier proposal to allow an empress after Aiko’s birth was shelved as soon as Hisahito was born in 2006.

“Right now I would like to cherish my remaining time in high school,” Hisahito said in a statement. He has long been interested in insects and even co-authored an academic paper on a survey of dragonflies on the grounds of his Akasaka estate in Tokyo, the statement said.

A largely conservative government-commissioned panel of experts in January 2022 recommended that the government propose allowing female members to keep royal status after marriage as a way to prevent the declining population within the imperial family, while adopting male descendants from now-defunct royal families to continue the male lineage with distant relatives.

Critics say those measures would have a limited effect as long as the male-only succession is maintained because it was workable largely with the help of concubines in the pre-modern era.

Source: ABC

Ad

X whatsapp