Government Panel Begins Debate on Woman Ascending Japanese Throne

[Tsiyu]

TOKYO (AP) - The head of a government panel debating revisions to Japan's imperial succession law said Tuesday that public opinion, which strongly supports allowing a woman to reign, would be the most important factor in their discussions.
Japan's royals are facing their most serious succession crisis in centuries, with no boy born to the imperial family since the 1960s and the current law barring women from ascending the ancient Chrysanthemum Throne.

Increasing pressure to amend the succession law prodded the government to announce last month that it was setting up a 10-member panel to examine legal revisions.

After its first meeting Tuesday, the panel's chair, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, acknowledged the delicacy of overhauling the world's oldest monarchy, which holds no political power but carries immense symbolic weight in Japan.
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