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LEAD: Gov't to deal with bill after princess's pregnancy is announced+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Feb. 7_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING) Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe indicated Tuesday the government will consider what to do with a bill to allow female monarchs after a formal announcement by the Imperial Household Agency of Princess Kiko's pregnancy. Asked about the government's plan to submit the bill to revise the Imperial House Law, Abe told reporters, "The government will decide on the matter after a formal announcement." Abe said the government is waiting for an announcement possibly later Tuesday that the princess, the wife of Prince Akishino, Emperor Akihito's second son, is pregnant. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said earlier Tuesday he will strive to ensure the bill's enactment in the current Diet session through June without referring to the news of the princess's pregnancy. At a House of Representatives Budget Committee session, Koizumi said the bill was timed to enable 4-year-old Princess Aiko to be raised and educated with the awareness that she will ascend the throne one day. Koizumi mentioned for the first time the reason his government is seeking to enact the contentious legislation this year, which would allow females and their descendants to ascend the imperial throne. Princess Aiko is the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. No male heir has been born into the imperial family since Prince Akishino's birth in 1965, stirring concerns of a possible succession crisis. Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko have two daughters. |