The House of Councillors approved revisions to the Imperial House Law at a plenary session on July 17.

The bill to amend the legislation received support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party as well as some opposition parties including the Democratic Party for the People, Komeito and Sanseito.

The revised law, which cleared the House of Representatives on July 10, was enacted as it passed the upper house with 184 votes in favor and 57 against out of 241 votes cast.

The key pillars of the amended Imperial House Law allow female members to remain in the imperial family after marriage and permit male-line descendants of former imperial branch families to be adopted into the imperial family.

Some opposition parties strongly objected to the bill as it included provisions that were not in the prior consensus of the legislature agreed upon during joint meetings between the ruling and opposition parties.

The contested provisions included granting succession eligibility to sons and male descendants of adopted imperial family members.