re: #91 Anymouse 🌹🏡😷

You can blame that on the USA.

Imperial Household Law (Wikipedia)

The law was adopted in 1947, replacing the previous law of 1889. The USA forced the law on Japan to bring the Imperial succession in line with the surrender treaty of WW2. The law was drafted by Douglas MacArthur.

I guess they could start cloning the emperor, like in Foundation.