The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan appears to be inching toward changing the law to expand the imperial family and head off a succession crisis in the world's oldest monarchy.

Critics, however, have cautioned that conservative lawmakers still intend to ensure that any new legislation does not open the way for a woman to finally assume the East Asian nation's Chrysanthemum Throne.

Representatives of parties from across the political spectrum are expected to convene a meeting in early May to address an issue that has hung over the nation's royalty for more than a decade. The LDP indicated a shift in its position earlier this month, which means progress toward a future empress may finally be possible.

Traditionalist hard-liners had previously resisted change, but the party now says two proposals first suggested in 2021 are "reasonable."

One suggestion would permit female members of the imperial family to retain their royal status after they marry instead of becoming commoners who are not, as a consequence, able to produce a male heir to the throne.

The second suggestion is to reinstate branches of the family that were lopped off shortly after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, as the occupation authorities sought to dramatically reduce the influence of the emperor.

Adopting those branches back into the imperial family would give it a far larger pool of descendants of the emperor and a far greater likelihood of a........

© Deutsche Welle