April ’19 abdication leading option for emperor: sources

November 22, 2017

Tokyo- The leading current option for the date of Japanese Emperor Akihito's planned abdication is April 30, 2019, informed sources said Wednesday.

If this date is confirmed, Crown Prince Naruhito's accession to the throne and the start of a new era will be on May 1.

An option to set the abdication date on March 31 and the start of the new era on April 1 is also expected to be discussed by the Imperial House Council at its Dec. 1 meeting, which will start at 9 a.m.(midnight Nov. 30 GMT).

The schedule of the council's meeting was announced by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga at a press conference on Wednesday.

Based on the council's discussions, the government plans to adopt an ordinance on the abdication date at a cabinet meeting in early December, the sources said.

In an unusual video message broadcast in August 2016, the Emperor, 83, suggested he wished to step down due to age-caused difficulties for him to fulfill his official duties.

Special legislation enacted in June to allow Emperor Akihito to abdicate stipulates that he steps down on the day when the law enters into force and that the Crown Prince then ascends to the throne.

"The government hopes to decide the law's enforcement date promptly, based on comments from the Imperial House Council," Suga said.

Initially, the government looked at the option of the Emperor abdicating on March 31, 2019 and a new era starting on April 1, as well as the option of abdication in late December 2018 and change of era on New Year's Day in 2019.

As the New Year period is crowded with ceremonies and other events involving the Imperial Family, the March 2019 abdication once became the leading option.

With a fierce confrontation between the ruling and opposition camps expected for the April 2019 unified local elections, however, the Emperor's stepping down after the elections, on April 30 that year, emerged as the most likely scenario, according to the sources.

The 10 members of the Imperial House Council include the heads of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government.

Prince Akishino is also a member of the council.

As the younger brother of Crown Prince Naruhito, Prince Akishino will be first in line to the throne after the Crown Prince becomes the Emperor.

Suga announced that Prince Hitachi, the younger brother of Emperor Akihito, will take part in the council's meeting on Dec. 1 in place of Prince Akishino, to avoid the attendance of an interested individual.

After the meeting, Suga and Shinichiro Yamamoto, grand steward of the Imperial Household Agency, will meet the press to explain the outcome of the council's discussions. Jiji Press