Japan looks ready for a modern-day reigning empress after a panel set up to address the succession crisis indicated it could change the law to allow the daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito to be his heir, media said on Tuesday. The question of who will succeed to the 2,600-year-old Chrysanthemum throne has sparked controversy because of a law that limits accession to males, and no son has been born into the imperial family for decades.

"It will go to Princess Aiko," the Kyodo news agency quoted an unidentified government source as saying on Monday of the issue of who would be next in line after the crown prince succeeds his father, Emperor Akihito, 71.

The 3-year-old Aiko is the only child of Naruhito, who turns 45 on Wednesday, and of Crown Princess Masako, 41.

No boys have been born into the imperial family since Prince Akishino, the crown prince's younger brother, in 1965.

The remarks by the government source were taken to mean the 1947 Imperial Household Law would be revised to allow women to succeed to the throne, Kyodo said.

An advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on succession issues is discussing a proposal to revise the Imperial Household Law, which limits accession to the throne to males.

The 10-member panel was set up after Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party issued a draft proposal saying it wanted legal revisions that would allow a woman to succeed to the throne.

The panel is to compile a report late this year.

Copyright Reuters, 2005