Politics
Japan prince comes of age amid looming succession crisis
TOKYO: Japan on Saturday heralded the coming-of-age of Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing.
The nephew of Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk and lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life.
“Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming of age ceremony,” Hisahito said.
“I will fulfil my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.”
Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only succession rules.
“As a young member of the Imperial Family, I am determined to fulfil my role,” Hisahito said in March.
Second in line to become emperor after his father, the 19-year-old will appear at the Tokyo palace to pay his respects to gods and ancestors.
Although tradition dictates only a man can carry on the imperial line — which goes back 2,600 years according to legend — opinion polls have shown high public support for a woman taking the throne.
“It makes no difference to me whether a woman becomes the emperor or a man does,” said Tokyo bartender Yuta Hinago.
The 33-year-old felt there could be “room for more flexibility” in the succession rules.
Japan has debated the royal succession for decades, with a key government panel in 2005 recommending that it pass to the oldest child regardless of their sex.
That appeared to pave the way for the emperor’s daughter to rise to the Chrysanthemum Throne, but Hisahito’s birth the following year silenced the debate.
Politicians have been slow to act, “kicking the can down the road,” and delaying a solution with youthful Hisahito in view, said Kenneth Ruoff, director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at Portland State University.
Traditionalists have asserted that the “unbroken imperial line” of male succession is the foundation of Japan, and major changes would divide the nation.
Under the post-war constitution, the royal family holds no political power.
Pressure on women
With royal daughters forced to leave the family after marriage, one modernising proposal would see them continue their public duties after their nuptials.
Conservatives, meanwhile, are pushing for the royal household to bring distant relatives back to the fold.
But it is unclear if those men would be willing to give up their careers and freedom to continue the lineage.
Hisahito said this year he has “not yet thought deeply” about his own marriage prospects, which could be challenging.
Historically, women who wed royals have faced intense pressure to produce sons and have become constant subjects of gossip.
Empress Masako, a former high-flying diplomat, struggled for years with a stress-related illness after joining the household, which some have put down to the pressure to have a boy.
Emperess Emerita Michiko, Naruhito’s mother, also suffered stress-induced illnesses.
Hisahito’s sister, Mako, married her university boyfriend Kei Komuro.
She has faced intense tabloid reporting over claims that Kei’s family had run into financial difficulties, leading the former princess to develop complex post-traumatic stress disorder. The couple left for the United States, where they recently had a baby.
Other members of the royal family are regular subjects of online and media gossip.
Despite broad public support for changing the succession rules, away from the pageantry, people are focused on other issues, such as rising inflation, royal historian Hideya Kawanishi told AFP.
“If people who are generally supportive (of women emperors) become a bit louder, then politicians can become more serious,” said Kawanishi, an associate professor at Nagoya University.
“But when ceremonies end, society, including the media, calms down and moves on.”
WASHINGTON: Air travel turmoil deepened with more than 4,300 flights delayed nationwide on Monday following more than 8,800 delays on Sunday, with air traffic controller absences surging as the federal government shutdown reached its 27th day.
The Federal Aviation Administration cited staffing shortages affecting flights across the Southeast and at Newark Airport in New Jersey, while the agency imposed a ground stop at Austin Airport in Texas and a ground delay program at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport that delayed flights by an average of 18 minutes.
Southwest Airlines LUV.N had 47%, or 2,089, of its flights delayed on Sunday, while American Airlines AAL.O had 1,277, or 36%, of its flights delayed, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website. United Airlines UAL.O had 27%, or 807, of its flights delayed and Delta Air Lines DAL.N had 21%, or 725, of its flights delayed.
Roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay. The Trump administration has warned that flight disruptions will increase as controllers miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday.
On Monday, Southwest had 24% of flights delayed, American 18% and Delta 13% as of 5:00 p.m. ET (2100 GMT), according to FlightAware.
A US Department of Transportation official said 44% of Sunday’s delays stemmed from controller absences — up sharply from the usual 5%.
The mounting delays and cancellations are fueling public frustration and intensifying scrutiny of the shutdown’s impact, raising pressure on lawmakers to resolve the budget impasse.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was in Cleveland meeting with controllers on Monday, while the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union plans events at numerous airports on Tuesday to highlight the first missed paycheck.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown.
In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending wait times at some airport checkpoints. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York and Washington.
- US-backed plan aims to stabilise fragile Gaza ceasefire.
- Israel rejects Turkish troop participation under Trump’s plan.
- Netanyahu says Tel Aviv will decide which forces enter Gaza.
The Israeli lawmakers have been told that troops from Pakistan would likely be part of the international force in Gaza, alongside soldiers from Indonesia and Azerbaijan, a media report claimed.
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee members were told during a closed-door briefing last week, according to a report in the Ynet news site.
It further stated that a US-backed international force to stabilise security in Gaza will include soldiers from the three Muslim countries.
Furthermore, Indonesia has publicly offered to send troops for the effort, whereas Azerbaijan had also agreed to contribute soldiers, The Times of Israel reported.
US President Donald Trump’s plan includes an international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire, which began this month, halting two years of war between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Israel said earlier today that it won’t accept the presence of Turkish armed forces in Gaza under a US plan to end the war in the Palestinian territory for good.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said today that Israel has not surrendered its right to self-defence as part of the agreement brokered by Washington, Egypt and Qatar.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv would decide which foreign forces to allow in Gaza.
But it remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops to the international force.
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into the Gaza Strip, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.
— Additional input from Reuters
- Rubio meets Jaishankar as US–India push trade talks.
- Highest-level contact since sanctions on Russian oil firms.
- Meeting sidelines Southeast Asian summit in Malaysia.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with India’s foreign minister on Monday, as the two countries push trade talks and ease tensions over Washington’s punishing tariffs.
Few details were released, but Rubio’s meeting with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is the highest-level contact since the United States imposed sanctions last week on Russian oil companies, a key source of India’s crude supplies.
Jaishankar posted a photograph on social media showing him smiling and shaking hands with Rubio, saying he “appreciated the discussion on our bilateral ties as well as regional and global issues”.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Malaysia, which US President Donald Trump attended in person and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed by video link.
Relations between Washington and New Delhi plummeted in August after Trump raised tariffs to 50%, with US officials accusing India of fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying Moscow’s discounted oil.
Trump, who spoke to Modi last week by telephone, has claimed that the Indian leader has agreed to cut Russian oil imports — something New Delhi has not commented on.
Trump warned that New Delhi would continue paying “massive” tariffs if it did not stop buying Russian oil.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Asked about India’s assertion that it was not aware of any conversation between Modi and Trump, Trump replied: “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”
India has become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian oil sold at a discount after Western nations shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
India’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of any telephone conversation between the leaders that day, but said that New Delhi’s main concern was to “safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer”.
— With additional input from Reuters
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