Japan not to allow women on the throne after all?

A lot of discussion has been going on in Japan about allowing women on the throne. The public is quite fond of the idea as well. The reason is, that for many years no male descendant has been born. No princess Kiko announced that she was pregnant and suddendly prime minister Koizumi backs away from his promise.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi backed away from his vow to change the law to let women inherit the throne yesterday, one day after sudden news that a royal princess was pregnant revived hopes for a male heir.