Japan Press Weekly

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2017 February 8 - 14 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP lawmakers discuss Emperor’s abdication issue

The Japanese Communist Party parliamentarians’ group held a meeting in the Diet building on February 10 to discuss the abdication issue of the Tenno (Emperor).

At the meeting, JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira underlined the need to create a new rule that will apply to the current Tenno and his successors, noting that no one can avoid aging. He added that the Imperial Household Law should be revised to take that into consideration.

Koike quoted Article 1 of the Japanese Constitution which states that the Emperor’s position shall be derived from “the will of the people”. He stressed that political parties ought to deliberate this matter before the general public, independently of the interim report presented by the government panel of experts.