With shouts of “Banzai!,” Japanese celebrated the birth Wednesday of the imperial family’s first male heir since the 1960s, a development that squelched hopes of reform to allow women on the ...

Japan on Wednesday said it will freeze voluntary funding for a United Nations’ women’s rights panel that called for an end to the country's male-only imperial succession rule. The unusual step ...

Imperial princesses lose their status as royals when they marry a commoner. The U.S. abolished the Japanese nobility in the postwar era, leaving only the imperial family as noncommoners.

Had members of the imperial family not been glued to their radios, they might have been the last people in Tokyo to hear the news. When Crown Princess Michiko was delivered of her 5-lb. 9-oz. son ...

THE shrinking number of Japan’s imperial family members is a grave problem for the country. As things stand, only three members are eligible to ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne, and unease ...

The “banzai” war cry began as a generic cheer uttered by soldiers and civilians alike, as the word literally means “ten thousand years.” It had long been used in Japan to indicate joy or a ...

Japanese Emperor Naruhito, center, and Empress Masako wave to well-wishers from the balcony of the Imperial Palace as Crown Princess Kiko, far left, Crown Prince Akishino, and Naruhito and Masako ...