The Economist - January 29th, 2005

United Nations for a permanent seat on the Security Council, but that is no overnight task. And
although the LDP will propose some constitutional revisions later this year—perhaps tweaking
Japan's pacifist restrictions in the process—enacting any changes will take much longer. That
leaves a territorial dispute with Russia and the “stability” of the throne as Mr Koizumi's best bets
for achieving something popular.
The panel will have much to discuss. It could, for example, choose to make men and women equal
in the imperial line, thus giving priority to Princess Aiko over her uncle, Prince Akishino. Or it could
opt for a system like Britain's, in which a woman can take the throne, but only if the monarch has
no male issue. Hopefully, the panel's deliberations will spark some debate over the broader role of
women in Japan. May Princess Aiko grow up in a country with more women as accomplished as
her mother.
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