Panel to issue report supporting Emperor abdication

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 file photo, Japan's Emperor Akihito reads a statement to formally open the ordinary Diet session at the upper house of parliament in Tokyo. A Japanese government panel studying a possible abdication of the emperor is set to release Monday, Jan. 23, an interim report that supports enacting special legislation that is applicable only to him. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017 file photo, Japan's Emperor Akihito, second left, and Empress Michiko, second right, look at a replica of fossils of a Cro‐Magnon man while listening to museum employee Yosuke Kaifu, right, during their visit to an exhibition "Lascaux: The Cave Painting of the Ice Age" at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo. A Japanese government panel studying a possible abdication of the emperor is set to release Monday, Jan. 23, an interim report that supports enacting special legislation that is applicable only to him. At left is the museum's Director General Yoshihiro Hayashi. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File) (The Associated Press)

A Japanese government panel studying a possible abdication of Emperor Akihito is set to release an interim report that supports enacting special legislation that is applicable only to him.

The six-member panel is looking at how to accommodate Akihito's apparent abdication wish expressed last August when he cited concerns that his age and health conditions may start limiting his ability to fulfill his duties.

The report to be released Monday evening will pave the way for a parliamentary discussion. Media reports were published detailing its proposals.

The panel, after interviewing constitutional and monarchy experts, has agreed that allowing an abdication was the most appropriate way to meet Akihito's request, but that setting a permanent system covering all future emperors would be difficult.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/panel-to-issue-report-supporting-emperor-abdication