Masako Owada has served as Japan’s Empress since 2019, a former diplomat who studied at Harvard and Oxford, whose health affected public life, now symbolically central as debate over imperial succession continues amid a newer, male-line approach.
Japan’s parliament has approved revisions to the Imperial House Law to admit distant male relatives into the line of succession and to allow princesses to retain royal status after marrying outside the family. The move does not change the ban on female emperors, leaving Princess Aiko ineligible to succeed. Public opinion shows strong support for a female monarch, but the law remains male-only for the throne.