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The oldest member of Japan's imperial family, Prince Mikasa, dies aged 100
By Kaori Kaneko
Tokyo: The oldest member of the Japanese imperial family has died aged 100.
Prince Takahito Mikasa had been admitted to a Tokyo hospital in mid-May due to acute pneumonia, and has also suffered heart problems.
The younger brother of the late Emperor Hirohito, Mikasa was the first member of the Japanese imperial family to turn 100 years old since the country opened to the West in the 19th century.
His death leaves only four heirs to the Chrysanthemum throne, the Imperial Household Agency said.
Mikasa's death coincides with renewed attention to the future of the ageing and shrinking imperial family and whether women should be allowed to inherit the throne, breaking a male-only succession tradition that conservatives say is central to an imperial tradition stretching back 2600 years.
Mikasa was the youngest brother of the current emperor's father, Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought World War II.
The prince, a scholar of ancient Oriental history, taught at colleges, and served as honorary president of the Middle Eastern Culture Centre in Japan and the Japan-Turkey Society.
Emperor Akihito, 82, hinted in August that he wanted to abdicate - a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law. The remaining four male heirs include 10-year-old Prince Hisahito, the emperor's only grandson.
The three older heirs are Akihito's 80-year-old brother and his two middle-aged sons including Crown Prince Naruhito.
Reuters