In October 2025, the Japanese royal family entered a critical period. Not long ago, 19-year-old Prince Youin had just concluded his much-watched coming-of-age ceremony. However, the lingering warmth of the celebration has not yet dissipated, but the royal family must face more realistic challenges-the ability of the only young male heir, and the crisis of the continuity of the entire royal family.

As Prince Yuri walked into the campus of Yugo University, news about his performance in the classroom disappeared.According to the school¡¯s teachers, Yugo did not excel in the classroom, much less than expected.

At the beginning of October 2025, the classroom of the new semester at Tsukuba University became a new window to observe the heirs of the Japanese royal family. Here, Prince Yurito's performance is quite different from the image he is being advertised. A teacher, who did not want to be named, described the young prince as being extremely stiff and slow to respond in academic occasions.

Even more worrying is the recent leaked academic records showing that Prince Yuan did not perform well in previous tests. This is a huge contrast to the long-standing image of the "6 year old knows Chinese poetry, 8 year old invented scientific instruments" created by the Palace Hall.

This situation worries supporters of the royal family, after all, he is currently the only hope for the continuation of the male royalty.

Meanwhile, the Palace is working hard to find the right marriage for the 19-year-old prince. The Queen¡¯s Committee has begun searching for female candidates across the country to meet the strict conditions, but progress has not been smooth.

In sharp contrast to the scarcity of male heirs, the Japanese royal family has many female members who are deeply loved by the people, but they can't inherit the throne because of their gender.

At present, there are five unmarried princesses in the Japanese royal family, three of whom are over 38 years old, facing the embarrassing situation of being "older and unmarried". Princess Aiko, the only daughter of Emperor Naruhito, is 23 years old. After graduation, she joined the Japanese Red Cross. Polls show that her approval rating is as high as 68% or even 89%, far exceeding that of Prince Youhito.

The 30-year-old princess has recently become the focus of public opinion because of the dressing issue. The dress she wore sparked controversy when she attended the All-Japan Tennis Tournament on October 12 and the closing ceremony of the National Sports Congress on October 8.

Older princesses are in a more delicate situation. Queen Bin Zi is 42 years old, Queen Yao Zi is 41 years old, and the heir son Wang is 39 years old, all exceeding the average age of marriage for ordinary Japanese women. The reason why they dare not marry easily is very realistic: once they marry a civilian, they will lose their royal status and treatment.

Princess Masako's choice may reflect the true thoughts of the royal women. In 2021, she would rather give up her dowry of 150 million yen, but also insist on marrying college classmate Kei Komuro and moving to New York. The decision caused a stir at the time, but it also highlighted the difficulties faced by royal women.

Article 1 of the "Royal Model" clearly stipulates that "the Emperor of Great Japan is inherited by the male family of the emperor's ancestors," a system established since the renewal of the Monarchy, which strictly binds the Emperor's inheritance to the gender.

Currently, the Japanese royal family has only three male heirs: the 59-year-old Akihito Emperor, the 19-year-old Emperor Yoshino (son of Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Emperor Em

In contrast to this conservative system, the Japanese society has a support rate of up to 90% for women to inherit the throne.The community poll showed that 76% of the population explicitly supports the succession of the princess.

A survey in October 2024 showed that more than half of the candidates for parliament said they "can accept a female emperor." But conservative forces remain strongly opposed to any reform, insisting: "The succession of women will tarnish the throne!"

A more realistic solution could be to allow women to retain their royal status after marriage. The Japan Self-Democratic Party has proposed a proposal to allow women members to retain their royal status after marriage in order to increase the number of royals.

The princess, who lived a civilian life in the United States of New York, even if it was necessary to run for livelihoods, said: "The sun here does not have the smell of the royal rose garden, but has the smell of freedom."

And even if her sister, Princess Jiako, got married in the future, she must continue to assist her younger brother, Prince Yuren, in her position and work in the royal family. The Palace Office is considering amending the law to allow female members to retain their status after marriage, but whether this can solve the fundamental problem is still unknown.

Perhaps we can only wait for time to give an answer to the future fate of the Japanese royal family.

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