Japan plans to have new emperor in 2019: Media

Tokyo: Japan is planning for Emperor Akihito to retire and be replaced by his eldest son on January 1, 2019, reports said on Wednesday, as the country works on a legal framework for its first abdication in 200 years.

Akihito, 83, expressed a desire in August to abdicate after nearly three decades on the Chrysanthemum Throne, citing his advancing age and weakening health.

Major national newspapers -- the Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi and Nikkei -- cited unnamed sources as saying Crown Prince Naruhito, 56, would succeed his father on New Year`s Day 2019.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on the reports at his regular news conference on Wednesday.

After Akihito`s announcement last year, the government established a panel of experts to help decide how best to proceed as the issue is fraught with historical and legal challenges.

Though abdications have occurred in Japan`s long imperial history there hasn`t been one in 200 years and under current laws there is no legal mechanism for one.

The six-member panel has discussed various legal options, with speculation rampant it will propose parliament pass a special one-time law to allow Akihito to step down.

The leading opposition Democratic Party, however, opposes a one-time change, arguing that would not ensure stable future successions. It has advocated a revision to the permanent law that governs the imperial family.

Abdication is a highly sensitive issue in light of Japan`s modern history of war waged in the name of Akihito`s father, the late emperor Hirohito who died in 1989.

Some scholars and politicians worry that the abdication issue could open a can of worms and risk Japan`s monarchs -- constitutionally constrained to being the symbol of the nation -- becoming subject to political manipulation.

The panel is expected to compile a summary of its views on the issue in January.

Akihito has keenly embraced the symbolic role imposed on the imperial family after Japan`s defeat in World War II.

Previous emperors including his father, Hirohito, had been treated as semi-divine.