In Tokyo, Japan’s National Diet has approved legislation to revise the Imperial House Law following final passage by the House of Councillors this morning. The legislation represents one of the most significant reforms affecting the Imperial Family of Japan in decades. It is intended to address the continuing decline in the number of working members of the Imperial Family.

The House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet (Japan’s parliament), approved the measure by a vote of 184 to 57, one week after it passed the House of Representatives.

Under the revised law, female members of the Imperial Family will be permitted to remain in the Imperial Household after marrying a commoner, ending the long-standing requirement that Imperial women relinquish their Imperial status upon marriage. The legislation also authorizes the adoption of male-line descendants from former Imperial branch families that lost their Imperial status under post-war reforms following World War II. Lawmakers rejected an opposition proposal that sought to remove the adoption provision before the bill received final approval.

The legislation does not alter Japan’s rules of Imperial succession. The Chrysanthemum Throne will continue to pass exclusively through the male line under the current Imperial House Law, meaning Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko, Princess Toshi, remains outside the line of succession.

The reforms are intended to strengthen the Imperial Household by increasing the number of family members available to carry out official duties while leaving the question of female succession unchanged. Whether women should one day be permitted to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne remains a separate issue and was not addressed by the revised legislation.

The revised Imperial House Law will enter into force three months after its official promulgation.