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The 83-year-old
emperor, who has had heart surgery and prostate cancer
treatment, said in rare public remarks last year he feared age
might make it hard for him to fulfill his duties.
Akihito has sought to soothe the wounds at home and abroad of
World War Two, which was fought in his father Hirohito's name,
and to bring the imperial family closer to the Japanese people.
He will be succeeded by Crown Prince Naruhito, 57.
The bill will be sent to parliament, where lawmakers are aiming
to pass it before the current session ends next month.
"The government hopes for the smooth passage of the
legislation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news
conference.
While no definite plan for an abdication has been confirmed,
media have said it will likely take place in late 2018, which
would mark nearly 30 full years on the throne for the emperor.
Abdication is not possible under current law and the last time
an emperor stepped down was in 1817.
The bill is one-off legislation that would allow only Akihito to
step down, with no provisions for future emperors.
It also makes no reference to the controversial issue of
changing the system to allow women to inherit the throne, or to
stay in the imperial family upon marriage, Japanese media said,
although political parties are discussing a separate resolution
on the topic.
Both steps have been suggested as ways to deal with a shortage
of male heirs and a shrinking pool of royals generally, a
problem thrust back into the limelight this week, with news that
Akihito's eldest granddaughter will marry a commoner, after
which she too must become a commoner.
There are only four heirs in the line of succession - Akihito's
two middle-aged sons, Akihito's octogenarian brother, and
Hisahito, the 10-year-old son of Akihito's younger son.
[http://tmsnrt.rs/2b7dWHn]
The crown prince has one teenage daughter, Aiko, who cannot
inherit the throne.
In 2005, with hopes for a male heir fading, then-prime minister
Junichiro Koizumi prepared to challenge a 1947 law limiting
succession to male descendants of an emperor. But the proposal
was shelved after Hisahito was born the next year.
(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Linda Sieg; Editing by
Robert Birsel)
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