A recent poll indicates that a majority of the Japanese public supports changing laws to allow a woman to ascend to the throne. This public sentiment contrasts sharply with the current direction promoted by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Japan’s public has once again signalled strong support for a woman ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne, but Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female leader, is pushing in a different direction. A Mainichi newspaper poll published on Wednesday found that 61 per cent of respondents believed the law should be changed to allow a woman to become emperor, against just 9 per cent who said the throne should remain reserved for a man. The emperor is defined in the 1947 constitution as....