TOKYO, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- A 10-member imperial succession panel under the Japanese government agreed Tuesday to propose allowing females to ascend the country's imperial throne to ensure "stable succession", given that no male heir has been born into the royal family for the last 40 years.

    According to panel leader Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, the proposal will be incorporated into the panel's report to be filed with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as early late November.

    Koizumi told reporters the same day that the government is preparing to submit to the Diet a bill to revise the Imperial House Law next year. The law currently allows only male heirs who have emperors on their fathers' side to ascend the throne.

    Yoshikawa, a former president of University of Tokyo and head of the panel, told a separate press conference that the panel came to the conclusion that female monarchs and their descendants should be allowed to reign after it agreed on the difficulty of maintaining the current system.

    "The number of eligible imperial heirs is so few in reality. Even if there were successors, it will surely run short in the future under the present Imperial House Law," Yoshikawa added.

    The panel will also include in the final report whether to give priority to the emperor's firstborn, or to give priority to a direct male descendant over any elder sisters.

    The debate over whether to allow female monarchs has brought three-year-old Princess Aiko, the only child of Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako, into the spotlight. Enditem