An advisory panel to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori proposed on Monday that sex distinction should be abolished in conferring the nation's decorations and honors.
Members of the panel headed by Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, chief of the Science Council of Japan, said they agreed to abolish rules that only men can receive the Orders of the Rising Sun while only women can be awarded the Orders of the Precious Crown.
As to recommendations presented by the ruling coalition parties to eliminate ranks in the decoration system, some panel members saw it as problematic that recipients' professions and the ranks are connected.
The panel is expected to compile an interim report in May on how to reform the honors system, by addressing such issues as the huge preponderance of government officials who receive such honors and ways to evaluate the merits of possible recipients.