Japan's Crown Princess Masako has been admitted to hospital to 
prepare for the birth of her baby. 
Smiling and waving to onlookers, the princess and her husband Crown 
Prince Naruhito were driven from the royal residence to the hospital 
in the grounds of the imperial palace. 

A household official said the baby was expected imminently. 

"Crown Princess Masako is not experiencing labour pains, but she is 
showing signs of delivery at any time," Hirofumi Oka, of the Imperial 
Household Agency, told a news conference at the palace. 
 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the news had made him "very 
happy". 

The birth of a boy will provide an heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne. 

If the baby is a girl, the law will not allow her to succeed her 
father, Crown Prince Naruhito. 

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has said it has no plans to 
change the law. But the birth of a girl would be likely to bring to a 
head a national debate over the rules of succession. 

No male child has been born to the Imperial family since 1965 when 
Prince Naruhito's younger brother, Prince Akishino, was born. Both of 
Prince Akishino's children are girls. 

Women have ruled before, the last was Emperor Koken who deposed her 
predecessor, another woman, Kogyoku, in 758. 

The child will be the royal couple's first in eight years of 
marriage. 

There is intense interest among the Japanese public in the imperial 
family. But media coverage has been relatively restrained in response 
to criticism that Princess Masako's miscarriage in December 1999 was 
caused by stress created by their frenzied coverage. 

BBCは王国のﾒﾃﾞｨｱだけあって他国の王室の歴史にも細かいなヽ(´ー｀)ノ