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.”

• Appeals court blocks Trump’s foreign aid cuts.
• Trump loses bid to freeze $4bn foreign aid.
• Laws binding unless Congress changes them: judge

A US appeals court on Friday declined to block a lower court ruling that said President Donald Trump’s administration could not unilaterally cut billions of dollars of foreign aid, requiring the administration to quickly move to spend funds on projects authorised by Congress.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit made its ruling just days after a lower court ruled that the administration should take steps to spend roughly $11 billion on foreign aid projects before Congressional authorisation for the spending expires in September.

The appeals court did not explain its decision, saying only that the Trump administration had not “satisfied the stringent requirements” to pause the ruling pending an appeal. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented and said he would have paused the lower court decision.

After being sued by aid groups that expected to compete for the funding this year, the Trump administration said it intended to spend $6.5 billion of the funds appropriated for foreign aid in 2024. But it moved to withhold $4 billion in funding appropriated for the US Agency for International Development, which the Trump administration has largely dismantled.

US District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, DC, ruled on Wednesday that the administration cannot simply choose not to spend the money, and said it remains under a duty to comply with appropriations laws unless Congress changes them.

Ali’s order, if it survives throughout the appeal process, would prevent Trump from effectively bypassing Congress to cancel foreign aid funding.

While the lawsuit proceeded, Trump sought to block $4 billion in disputed funding through a “pocket rescission” that bypasses Congress.

Trump budget director Russell Vought has argued that the president can withhold funds for 45 days after requesting a rescission, which would run out the clock until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The White House said the tactic was last used in 1977.

The money at issue was earmarked for foreign aid, United Nations peace-keeping operations, and democracy-promotion efforts overseas.

Ali ruled that merely asking Congress to rescind the $4 billion is not enough, saying that the spending should proceed unless Congress affirmatively acts to stop it.

Ali said he ruled quickly to provide higher courts time to weigh in before the funds reach their expiration dates. The 6-3 conservative majority US Supreme Court has already intervened once in the case, requiring the Trump administration to pay foreign aid organisations for work they already performed for the government.

• Parliament confirms Anutin as PM ending week-long power vacuum. 
• PM receives backing of People’s Party, which holds plurality of seats.
• Apex court due to rule on Tuesday over Thaksin’s hospital stay.

Thailand’s next prime minister has pledged to make good on his promise to lead the fractured interim government to new polls.

Conservative tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul was confirmed by parliament on Friday, ending a week-long power vacuum following the ouster of his predecessor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

The construction magnate cobbled together a coalition of opposition blocs to shut out Pheu Thai, the electoral vehicle of the once-dominant Shinawatra dynasty’s patriarch Thaksin.

He received the backing of the People’s Party, which holds a plurality of seats, on condition that he dissolve parliament within four months for fresh elections.

“I will follow all agreements,” he said Friday outside his party headquarters.

“We must bring back the spirit of the ‘Land of Smiles’ to our country during my short time in office,” he said, adding that he was known to dislike conflict.

Anutin addressed Thaksin’s unexpected flight from the kingdom the night before Friday’s vote — and days before a court case — bound for Dubai, where he said he would visit friends and seek medical treatment.

“There will be no favouritism, no persecution, and no revenge,” Anutin said.

The Supreme Court is due to rule on Tuesday in a case over Thaksin’s hospital stay following his return from exile in August 2023, a verdict some analysts say could see him jailed.

Anutin´s right-wing Bhumjaithai party went into coalition with Pheu Thai in 2023, but pulled out in June over Paetongtarn’s alleged misconduct in a leaked phone call with Cambodian ex-leader Hun Sen.

The Shinawatras have been a mainstay of Thai politics for the past two decades, sparring with the pro-monarchy, pro-military establishment that views them as a threat to the kingdom´s traditional social order.

But they have faced a series of setbacks, including Paetongtarn´s removal last week.

Anutin previously served as deputy prime minister, interior minister and health minister — but is perhaps most famous for delivering on a promise to legalise cannabis in 2022.

His elevation to premiership still needs to be endorsed by Thailand’s king to become official.