カテゴリ
お知らせ トランス LGB(TIQ) HIV/AIDS 米政治 国内政治 ジェンダー・セックス バックラッシュ Books Movies Theatres TV & Radio Music Others Opinions 以前の記事
2007年 09月 2007年 08月 2007年 07月 2007年 06月 2007年 05月 2007年 04月 2007年 03月 2007年 02月 2007年 01月 2006年 12月 2006年 11月 2006年 10月 2006年 09月 2006年 08月 2006年 07月 2006年 06月 2006年 05月 2006年 04月 2006年 03月 2006年 02月 2006年 01月 2005年 12月 2005年 11月 2005年 10月 2005年 09月 2005年 08月 2005年 07月 検索
最新のトラックバック
その他のジャンル
ファン
記事ランキング
ブログジャンル
画像一覧
|
A government panel recommended that Princess Aiko, here with her mother, should ascend to the throne and have her child succeed her. The New York Times December 27, 2005 What Japan's Aiko Lacks: The Royal Y Chromosome By NORIMITSU ONISHI TOKYO, Dec. 26 - For centuries, men have ascended to Japan's imperial throne, one of the world's oldest hereditary monarchies. Eight women have reigned as empresses but never bore heirs, so the Chrysanthemum Throne always reverted to a male relative who was a direct descendant of the imperial line. But faced with the harsh reality that neither of the current emperor's two sons is likely to produce a male heir, a government panel recommended recently that the American-imposed Imperial Household Law of 1947 be revised to allow a female line to hold the throne. The possibility has ignited a furious debate over the most delicate of subjects - the imperial system and its significance to Japan - and over topics as varied as the status of Japanese women, the merits of the concubine system and the purity of the imperial Y chromosome. "We discussed how to preserve the imperial system from a mid- to long-term point of view," Itsuo Sonobe, deputy chairman of the 10-member government panel and a former Supreme Court justice, said in an interview. "The three major pillars of discussion were that the succession system should be constitutional and stable, and that, furthermore, it should win the people's support." The panel proposed that an emperor's first child, regardless of its sex, ascend to the throne and, further, that royal women be allowed to retain their imperial status after marriage. Today, they leave the imperial palace and become commoners when they wed, as Princess Sayako, the daughter of Emperor Akihito, did recently. The recommendation, which is expected to be introduced as a bill in Parliament next year, would clear the way for Princess Aiko, the emperor's 4-year-old granddaughter, to one day ascend to the throne and have her own firstborn succeed her. The proposal arose out of the current imperial family situation. Princess Aiko is the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito, 45, and Crown Princess Masako, 42. Princess Masako, a former diplomat educated at Harvard and Oxford, came under intense pressure to bear a male heir since marrying the future emperor in 1993. Princess Masako gave birth to Princess Aiko in 2001, after which the pressure to have a boy only increased. That is believed to have caused what the Imperial Household Agency said last year was the princess's depression and anxiety. The princess, who has received therapy, has rarely been seen in public since the end of 2003. Under the current system, a son from Emperor Akihito's other son, Prince Akishino, 40, could ascend. But Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, have two daughters, and, despite prodding from the Imperial Household Agency, are not believed to be trying for a third child. Recent opinion polls show that most Japanese overwhelmingly back the idea of an empress, though support dips for a female line. According to Japanese myth, the first emperor, Jimmu, a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, began his reign 2,665 years ago; historians, though, trace the start of Japan's imperial system to the fourth or fifth century. Some opponents of establishing a female imperial line cite that ancient precedent. Tsuneyasu Takeda, 30, a member of a former imperial family branch, said Japan should no more alter Horyu Temple, its oldest wooden building, than interfere with the throne's unbroken male bloodline. "Why not rebuild Horyu Temple as a concrete building?" said Mr. Takeda, author of the recently published book "The Truth About the Imperial Family." He answered himself: "If you did, it would be something completely different." The emperor, Mr. Takeda said, was valued "not because he is intelligent or handsome." "It's because he is the inheritor of the blood that has been preserved for 2,000 years," he said. Other opponents add genetics to their argument. Since women have two X chromosomes while men have an X and a Y, the imperial throne's male line has preserved its Y chromosome intact. "Maintaining the male line is the condition to preserving that Y chromosome," said Hakubun Shimomura, a lawmaker for the governing Liberal Democratic Party, who is one of the leaders of a campaign to reject the panel's recommendation. "The bloodline is important for the emperor to be a symbol of the nation and the unity of the people," Mr. Shimomura added. "This symbolic imperial throne preserves Japan's culture and tradition in total. The imperial throne is Japan itself." Like many other opponents, Mr. Shimomura does not oppose Princess Aiko's ascension to the throne, as long as a male with the right Y chromosome will succeed her. Princess Aiko would be a "pinch hitter," he added, the same way the previous eight empresses had been. But where to find the right Y? During the American postwar occupation, two groups that had ensured male heirs over the centuries were abolished: other imperial branch families, like Mr. Takeda's, and concubines, who are said to have given birth to about half of past emperors. Reacting against the panel, a cousin of the current emperor, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, 59, wrote that those two groups should be resurrected to maintain the throne's male lineage. "I wholeheartedly support it," the prince wrote about a revival of the concubine system, "but I think that the social mood inside and outside the country may make it a little difficult." "Unless we carefully hold and express opinions regarding 2,665 years of history and tradition, we'll move in the direction of changing Japan's 'national essence,' " the prince wrote. "Furthermore, one day, arguments that the imperial system is not needed will even emerge." But some supporters of the panel's recommendations say that a female line would bring badly needed equality to a society where a woman is still expected to join a man's family upon marriage, take his family name and be buried in his family's grave. For most of the throne's history, emperors lived quietly in Kyoto. But during the Meiji Restoration of the late 1800's, as Japan tried to modernize and catch up with the West, Emperor Meiji was brought to the forefront to try to unify Japan; his grandson, Emperor Hirohito, who died in 1989, was considered divine until Japan's defeat in World War II. Mikiyo Kano, a professor of women's history at Keiwa College, said that after Meiji, the emperor and his wife were held up as models for the Japanese. Starting with Meiji and until Japan's defeat, emperors dressed in military uniforms, while their wives promoted the Red Cross and patriotic associations. "I think the male succession system in the imperial family has led to the discrimination and oppression of women in general in Japan," Ms. Kano said. A female line would make a woman the symbolic leader of the nation and show a man deferring to her, as wives of emperors do, she said. "If Princess Aiko became empress, it might be a little better for the realization of the equality of men and women, rather than clinging to the male line," Ms. Kano said. "I'm basically for ending this system where wives always stand back while the emperor speaks, or walk behind him. That kind of image says a lot to ordinary people." [潮流]女性・女系天皇容認 皇室のあり方考える機会に(解説) (読売 2005/12/24朝刊) ◇潮流2005 小泉首相の私的諮問機関「皇室典範に関する有識者会議」の審議を見守った年だった。結論は、女性天皇やその子孫の女系天皇の容認。「拙速」との批判もあるが、8年前から極秘裏に勉強が始まっていた。愛子さまを想定して、皇位継承制度が大きく変わろうとしている。(編集委員・井上茂男) 今月15日。皇室典範の改正問題が宮城県議会の本会議の議題として取り上げられた。 一部県議が、改正にあたって有識者会議の結論にとらわれることなく慎重に検討し、拙速な法案提出を避けることなどを国に要望する意見書の採択を求めていた。 討論に入り、自民党・県民会議の議員は「女性と女系の違いも理解されていない。拙速という疑問を禁じ得ない」と賛成し、共産党県議団の議員は「天皇が男性でなければいけない合理的な根拠はない。県議会の良識が問われる重大な選択」と反対意見を述べた。 賛成26、反対34。政府関係者が注目した地方議会の採決だった。 前日の14日、東京で超党派の「日本会議国会議員懇談会」の勉強会が開かれた。集まった議員を前に平沼赳夫会長が「(政府は男系継承の)守るべき長い伝統を変えようとしているが、拙速は許されない。我々も法案を国会に出すことも考えたい」と呼びかけた。 宮城と東京で聞かれた「拙速」の声。有識者会議の結論が10か月で出されたことや、迅速に改正案を国会に出そうとする政府の動きへの批判は根強くある。 関係者はしかし動じない。「皇室典範を運用する宮内庁で8年前からひそかな勉強が行われていた。明治典範が制定された時の議論も視野に入れ、その蓄積を踏まえて有識者会議の判断をいただいた。批判はあたらない」 関係者によると、宮内庁で勉強会が始まったのは1997年ごろ。数人の幹部が内閣法制局の元幹部や歴史学者などの専門家を招き、女性天皇の前例や皇位継承の歴史などについて勉強を重ねた。 「皇位継承者がいなくなるという強い危機感があった」と元宮内庁幹部。結婚から4年近くが過ぎた皇太子ご夫妻にお子さまはなく、秋篠宮家も女子が続いていた。 6年後の2003年。宮内庁は首相官邸の事務方と情報を共有し始める。1月に天皇陛下ががんの手術を受けられ、前年11月には高円宮さまが急逝されていた。 「皇位継承者がいなくなるという問題認識はあったが、長く触れられずにきた。それでいいのかと検討を始めた」と関係者。都心のホテルの一室で定期的に勉強会が開かれた。 このころ認識されたのが「タイムリミット」だった。天皇の子や孫の内親王、ひ孫以降の女王は、皇室典範によって15歳になると自らの意思で皇籍を離脱できる。 当時、秋篠宮家の眞子さまは11歳、佳子さまは8歳。将来の継承者と見込んでも、やがて時が来て離脱されるかもしれない。そうなれば女性天皇を容認しようとしても、安定性を欠いてしまう。 「内親王や女王が人生を決める前に制度を決めなければならないと思った」。関係者は作業を急いだ事情を打ち明けた。 ◇ 平成の皇室の特徴は、新潟県中越地震などが起きた時に被災地を見舞い、地方訪問では必ずハンセン病療養所や福祉施設を訪ねて励まされるなど、国民との触れ合いを大切にする姿勢にある。 「国民と苦楽を共にすることに努め、国民の幸せを願いつつ務めを果たしていくことが皇室のあり方として望ましい」。天皇陛下は72歳の誕生日を前にした会見でこう考えを述べられた。 読売新聞が今月行った世論調査では、女性天皇賛成が73%、女系天皇容認が60%。皇室に好感を持ち、存続を支持する人が99年の調査で約80%に上ったことと考え合わせると、皇室は活動ぶりが支持され、男女の別や血統はそう重視されていないことがうかがえる。 その背景を踏まえて関係者が問題を単純化してみせた。「少数が大事にする血統を採るか、多くが支持する活動ぶりを採るか」 国民の総意に基づく象徴天皇制では、皇室の伝統もまた国民の意識によって変わりうる。国民が変化を求め、皇室も応えようとした時、相互作用によってさらに支持が強まることもあるだろう。典範改正は来年から国会で審議されることになるが、男系か女系かの議論にとどめず、皇室のあり方を考える契機にもしたい。 ◇歴代の女性天皇=表略 写真=天皇ご一家(昨年12月、御所で)=宮内庁提供 写真=井上茂男記者
by alfayoko2005
| 2005-12-27 14:45
| ジェンダー・セックス
|
ファン申請 |
||