TOKYO -โ Prince Hisahito, โฃborn September 6, 2006, recently marked his coming-of-age,โฃ becoming the first male member of the Japanese imperial familyโฃ to do so in 40 years. The event has spotlighted the shrinking number of potential โheirs adn ignited debate over the future of โคthe world’s oldest continuous monarchy.
Hisahito is the son โof Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, and nephew to Emperor โNaruhito, who has one child, a daughter, Princess Aiko. He is currently a student at Tsukuba University, studying biology with aโค particular interest in dragonflies – a passion reflected in his nickname, “the prince of โขdragonflies,” and his participation in academic papers โsurveying dragonfly populations. In a March press conference, he expressed a desire to focus his studies on insects โand their conservation in urbanโ environments.
The prince’s maturity ritual was delayed a year after reaching legal adulthood at 18 to allow him to focus on college entrance examinations. Heโค has two older sisters, Kako and Mako, the latterโ of whom relinquished her royal status upon marrying a commoner.
Hisahito is currently second โin line to the Chrysanthemum โขThrone. However, with a limited number of โขmale heirs – he and his father, Akishino, are the only twoโฃ younger than Emperor Naruhito – concerns are โขgrowing โthat he may be the last emperor under the current succession laws, which restrict the throne to male members of the imperial family. Prince Hitachi, the former Emperor Akihito’s younger brother, is a more distant third in line at 89 years โold. This situation has prompted discussion about possibly revising the 19th-century โขImperial House Law to โขallow female succession.