Overview
- The National Diet enacted the revision on Friday, July 17, 2026, with the House of Councillors approving the package 184 to 57 after the lower house passed it the week before.
- The law allows the imperial household to adopt male descendants from former imperial branches and permits princesses to keep their imperial status after marrying commoners.
- Adopted men cannot themselves become emperor under the revision but their future male-line descendants would be eligible, and husbands or children of retained princesses will not gain imperial status.
- The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the changes aim to secure enough members to carry out official duties, citing a current household of about 16 people with few immediate male heirs.
- Opposition parties, academics and rights advocates criticized the measure for preserving male-only succession despite Kyodo polls showing roughly 80–83% public support for allowing women to inherit, and the law is likely to prompt further legal and political debate over gender and succession.