Japan's new emperor wishes for world peace upon taking throne (Response)

This article covered a particularly current topic: the ascension of Crown Prince Naruhito to the throne, and his comments on becoming the Emperor for the new Reiwa era. It described the regalia handover ceremony, and Emperor Naruhito's statements on his wishes for Reiwa, which included world peace, prosperity and happiness for the Japanese people, and for Naruhito to fulfill his purpose as a symbol of unity for the nation.

I feel that this is a very important story to be talking about, because although it doesn't present any important issues that need addressing or social challenges that might need solving, it highlights an event that seems to be strongly holding the attention of Japanese people. Having occurred just this last Wednesday, the transition to the new era is something that I find everyone has been talking about. There are all kinds of festivals going on in celebration, and every shop that I've been to has had some kind of era-transition products on sale or decorations (for example, these little pancake things that I found at the department store, with either Heisei or Reiwa written on them).

On top of this there was a television special covering all the details of the transition, and the lives of the previous emperor and empress, which was intently watched by my homestay family.

As far as connections to other stories go, there was an interesting thing that I found in my search for other articles related to the new Emperor or the Reiwa era. There seems to be a bit of a concern for the future of the imperial family due to the fact that Emperor Naruhito doesn't have any sons. The next in line for the throne is the son of Naruhito's younger brother, a 12-year-old boy named Hisahito. The issue people are considering is that, due to the Imperial Household Law, only male heirs can inherit the right to rule. If Hisahito did not have a male child, one of the world's oldest royal families would lose its succession. Some people, in response to this and the current social climate of the world, have suggested that the law be changed to allow women to also be able to inherit the right to rule. According to an article titled "Japan abdication stirs female succession debate," the enactment of this change is unlikely, even though public opinion is shifting towards not seeing anything wrong with women inheriting the throne. The article also expressed some connected concerns that people shared, including a concern for the pressure placed on the women of the imperial family to bear sons. This has been something that now Empress Masako has been dealing with for a long time, and people have even attributed it to a stress-related illness that she developed soon after joining the Imperial Family. My host sister had a comment on the reason why some people might be so adamant on the succession of only males, despite the issues that come with it; it is believed that the relation to Amaterasu is held in the Y chromosome, which only the males inherit (granted, this is just what I understood from our conversation in Japanese). It'll be interesting to see if the shifting beliefs actually end up creating a change in the Imperial House Law that allows women to reign, or if a lack of male heirs becomes more of a problem in the future.