The government will kick off discussions this week that could result in changing the male-only Imperial succession rule which experts say has been practiced for more than 1,000 years.
The key topic of a 10-member advisory panel to the prime minister that holds its first meeting Tuesday is whether to allow a female to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, whose occupant has come solely from the family's paternal line.
Many in the government, Diet and public at large support the change, because the very survival of the Imperial family is now in peril: No males have been born to the family for decades.