Overview

• At the Imperial Palace, he received a black silk and lacquer kanmuri crown, donned adult ceremonial attire, rode by carriage to pray at palace shrines, and pledged to fulfill his duties.
• He stands second in line after Crown Prince Akishino, with only 89-year-old Prince Hitachi otherwise eligible under current rules.
• The postwar law confines succession to males and requires princesses who marry commoners to leave the family, further shrinking the number of working royals.
• Public opinion favors allowing a woman to reign, yet legislative action has stalled despite a 2005 panel backing eldest-child succession and a 2022 panel urging male-line continuity with limited reforms.
• Upcoming rites include visits to Ise Shrine and imperial mausoleums and a lunch with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, as the Tsukuba biology freshman pursues research on dragonflies.