The long-term survival of the world's oldest monarchy will depend on a schoolboy when Japan's current emperor abdicates next week, reviving calls for an end to laws that bar women from the throne. Twelve-year-old Hisahito, son of Crown Prince Akishino, will become second-in-line to the Chrysanthemum Throne when Akishino's elder brother, Naruhito, inherits the crown from their father on May 1.
Akishino will be first in line but is already 53. "The whole future of the Imperial family depends on one little boy -- that he will remain healthy and be willing to marry and have children with his wife," says Ben-Ami Shillony, a professor of Japanese at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Akishino will be first in line but is already 53. "The whole future of the Imperial family depends on one little boy -- that he will remain healthy and be willing to marry and have children with his wife," says Ben-Ami Shillony, a professor of Japanese at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
