Japan plans to have new emperor in 2019

Tokyo : Japan is planning for Emperor Akihito to retire and be replaced by his eldest son on January 1, 2019, reports said 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 on an issue fraught with historical and legal challenges.

Though abdications have occurred in Japan's long imperial history there has not been one for 200 years. 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 this 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 Emperor Hirohito, who died in 1989.