Japanese princess pregnant: reports  

Japanese Princess Kiko, wife of the emperor's second son Akishino, pictured here in a 2003 file photo, is pregnant, reports said, potentially influencing the debate on historic moves to end male-only succession.

Princess Kiko, the wife of the Japanese emperor's second son Akishino, is pregnant, reports said, potentially influencing the debate on historic moves to end male-only succession.

Princess Kiko, 39, will have her third child in the autumn, Kyodo News said, quoting the Imperial Household Agency. An agency spokesman had no immediate comment.

No boy has been born to the imperial family since 1965, leading the government to propose historic changes to the world's oldest monarchy, which according to legend has lasted more than 2,600 years.

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako have one child, four-year-old Princess Aiko. Masako, 42, a US-educated former career woman, makes few public appearances due to stress amid intense pressure to bear a boy.

If Kiko has a boy, it could dramatically change the succession debate as another boy would be in line to theChrysanthemum Throne.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has pledged to present the revisions to imperial law before parliament by June, but conservatives have stepped up a campaign against maternal succession.

Opinion polls show overwhelming support for letting Aiko sit on the throne, making her Japan's first reigning empress since the 18th century, amid sympathy for Masako.

But conservatives are particularly angry that the proposal would permanently change succession rules by putting the first child of the monarch, either an emperor or empress, first in line to the throne.

A poll published Monday said some 63 percent favor letting a woman ascend the throne and putting her children next in line, overwhelming the 21 percent who oppose ending Japan's unbroken imperial succession through fathers.

But support has dropped from 77 percent in November and 81 percent in February last year, said the survey by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun economic daily.

(Agencies)

Chrysanthemum Throne： 天皇王位，因为菊花是日本的国花（樱花是民间国花），也是日本皇室的徽标。在日本，菊花代表长生不老，也是势力、尊严和崇高的象征，因此日本皇室被称为“菊花皇室”。