A government panel recently recommended that female members of the Japanese royal family and their descendants be allowed to ascend to the nation’s Chrysanthemum Throne. Around 85% of respondents in a recent survey agreed that “it would be better if a woman also could become emperor.” So it should be pretty much a done deal, right?

Not really.

“Academics” and “commentators” are reportedly blasting the panel’s recommendation as being an unacceptable break with tradition. According to “diplomatic analyst Hideaki Kase, “The Imperial household is supporting Japanese culture at the core. The issue should be discussed over more time.” (Which in Japan normally translates to, “Things are not going my way, so it’s time to stall.”)

The government plans to submit a bill to revise the Imperial House Law in accordance with the panel’s proposal during next year’s ordinary Diet session.

The panel unveiled its final report Thursday. It also advocated granting succession priority to the reigning monarch’s firstborn child, regardless of gender.

The current law limits successors to male heirs who have emperors on their father’s side. This has fueled fears of an Imperial succession crisis because no male heir has been born to the Imperial family since 1965.

The problem of imperial succession in Japan has arisen because there is no eligible male heir under the current system. Revising the law would make 3-year-old Princess Aiko, the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, the next in line to the throne after her father.