Japan Times points out that Emperor Naruhito hopes a plan that wins public support regarding the number of imperial family members. In other words, the plan currently under discussion has not gained public support. Foreigners must surely view male-line succession as a barbaric custom. During the Meiji era, when Japan was adopting the Imperial House Law from the West, Lorenz von Stein remarked that the system of concubines in Japanese Imperial family was utterly barbaric.
japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/0…