Members of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's advisory panel on the Imperial House Law agreed Monday (Nov 21) to recommend in their proposal that the first-born child of an emperor should be the imperial heir -- regardless of the child's sex.

The panel, meeting for the 16th time, also agreed on the outline of the report on revising the law, which will be submitted to Koizumi on Thursday (Nov 24).

In its report, the panel chaired by former Tokyo University President Hiroyuki Yoshikawa will recommend that imperial daughters and children of the female line of the Imperial family should be able to ascend the imperial throne.

Another recommendation says imperial princesses should be able to keep their royal status even after marrying a commoner and start a new household within the Imperial family.

Asked why the panel agreed to recommend the first-born child of an emperor should be heir to the throne, Yoshikawa said at a press conference after the meeting: "People will know who the next monarch will be and can see the child with that expectation from his or her childhood. It also helps to keep Imperial succession stable."

The most heated point of debate among the members was whether an imperial prince should always be given priority in the order of succession to the throne among imperial siblings even when he has an older sister.

On that point, the panel concluded the system that gives priority to a male is unstable and therefore undesirable because when an emperor's first-born child is a girl, there could be a long period during which it is unclear who heads the line of succession.

If the law is revised as the panel recommends, Princess Aiko, the only daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, will be second in line to the throne after the Crown Prince.

Under the proposals, naishinno --sisters, daughters and granddaughters of an emperor -- would not be free to renounce their imperial status at their own discretion. But it is feared the Imperial budget may increase with the size of the Imperial family.

Therefore, the Imperial Household Council, whose members include Imperial family members, the prime minister and speakers of both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, can decide whether a naishinno should secede from the Imperial family.

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