The Abe administration has effectively secured the endorsement of both the ruling coalition and the opposition camp for special legislation to pave the way for the abdication of 83-year-old Emperor Akihito. It plans to submit the proposal to the Diet later this month so that the bill can be enacted by the end of the current legislative session in June. Instead of institutionalizing Imperial abdication, which is not provided for in succession rules under the Imperial House Law, this will be a one-off law applicable only to Emperor Akihito, who expressed his wish last summer to retire due to advanced age and increasing frailty.

Once the legislation gets the Diet's nod, the government is expected to set the date for the Emperor's abdication in an ordinance — likely to be in late 2018 — and Crown Prince Naruhito's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

That, however, will leave open yet another issue over Imperial succession that was once again highlighted as the Emperor's wish directed public attention to the situation surrounding the Imperial family — that it, like the nation's population, is shrinking and aging with fewer newborns, and the current male-only succession rules could put the family's future in doubt.