Passage: Succession is now regulated by laws passed by the National Diet. The current law excludes women from the succession. A change to this law had been considered until Princess Kiko gave birth to a son. Until the birth of Prince Hisahito, son of Prince Akishino, on September 6, 2006, there was a potential succession problem, since Prince Akishino was the only male child to be born into the imperial family since 1965. Following the birth of Princess Aiko, there was public debate about amending the current Imperial Household Law to allow women to succeed to the throne. In January 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed a special panel composed of judges, university professors, and civil servants to study changes to the Imperial Household Law and to make recommendations to the government. The panel dealing with the succession issue recommended on October 25, 2005, amending the law to allow females of the male line of imperial descent to ascend the Japanese throne. On January 20, 2006, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi devoted part of his annual keynote speech to the controversy, pledging to submit a bill allowing women to ascend the throne to ensure that the succession continues in the future in a stable manner. Shortly after the announcement that Princess Kiko was pregnant with her third child, Koizumi suspended such plans. Her son, Prince Hisahito, is the third in line to the throne under the current law of succession. On January 3, 2007, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced that he would drop the proposal to alter the Imperial Household Law.
How many daughters did Princess Kiko have before having a son? How many different types of people did Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appoint to the special panel? How many months after a panel was formed did they make a decision to support a revision to the law? How many months after the birth of Hisahito were plans to change the succession law dropped? How many years after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed a special panel to study changes to the Imperial Household law did Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announce that he would drop the proposal to alter the Imperial Household Law? How many years after the Prime Minister promised to submit a bill allowing women to ascend the throne did he drop the proposal? How many years after the panel was formed was the proposal dismissed? How many years old was Prince Akishino when his son was born? How many years passed before another male heir was born? How many years passed between the birth of Price Akishino and the next male child? How many years were between the time Prince Hisahito was born and the last time prior to that when a male child was born into the imperial family? Princess Kiko is the mother of who? Which happened first, the birth of Prince Hisahito or Koizumi suspended submitting bill allowing women to ascend the throne? Who is Prince Hisahito's mother? Who is second in line to the throne? Who is the father of Prince Hisahito? Who is the mother of Prince Hisahito? Who was Hisahito's mother? Who was Hisahito's sister? Who was born first, Prince Hisahito or Prince Akishino? Who was the Prime Minister of Japan first, Shinzō Abe or Junichiro Koizumi?