Opinion polls conducted by the newspapers before the Emperor delivered his message on Aug. 8 showed that a majority of the public accepted his wish to abdicate.

In Mainichi Shimbun’s nationwide poll administered on Aug. 3-4, 67% of respondents answered that the imperial household system should be “reviewed” to allow abdication, while 22% maintained this issue should be “discussed carefully.”

The results of a Nikkei poll also showed that 65% of pollees were in favor of “creating a system that allows all emperors to abdicate in the future,” while 15% opted for “continuing with the current system but assigning a regent to perform the emperor’s duties on his behalf” and 12% preferred to “allow abdication only for the present emperor.”

In Asahi Shimbun’s poll asking respondents if abdication should be allowed, 84% were in favor and only 5% were against.

A similar poll by Yomiuri Shimbun also showed that 84% of the public were of the opinion that the imperial household system should be “reformed,” while 11% believed that “no reform is necessary.”