Princess Mako, the niece of Japan’s emperor, has married her university sweetheart, telling a sceptical public that the union was critical to the couple’s mental health and “necessary for our survival” after years of criticism over her choice of husband.
Her unexpectedly raw appraisal of the nuptials came shortly after she sealed her marriage to Kei Komuro in the official register. Though a bureaucratic transaction deliberately shorn of any ceremony, the pairing has sparked strong opinions from many Japanese.
Under Japan’s Imperial House Law, the match between Mako and a commoner husband instantly stripped the princess of her royal status. The same process simultaneously gave the 30-year-old something she has never been allowed: a surname.
The protracted public backlash against the couple, which began shortly after they announced their engagement four years ago, had left the pair “horrified”, the newly titled Mako Komuro said in a statement.
This month, the Imperial Household Agency announced that Mako had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In a further signal of how tormented the palace authorities had been by the match, plans for a post-marriage press conference were torn up at the last minute.
Instead, on what the Imperial agency said were the orders of a doctor, the couple read out a nine-minute statement and provided journalists with paper handouts responding to questions submitted earlier.
“We have been horrified, scared and saddened by the fact that false information has been taken as fact and that unfounded stories have spread,” Mako said, adding that she rejected the notion that there was anything remotely scandalous about the engagement.
“What I would like is just to lead a peaceful life in my new environment,” continued the bride, wearing a pale green dress.
The four-year relationship has obsessed Japan following allegations that Komuro’s mother, who raised her son alone, owed a former fiancé money, sparking criticism that he was not a suitable royal spouse.
“I am aware that there are negative views against our marriage but we want to cherish the new life we are going to start together,” Komuro said.
Before this month, the couple had not seen each other in person for three years while Komuro studied at Fordham University’s law school in New York and took the bar exam in July. The two plan to relocate to the US at Mako’s request.
“I have various concerns about starting in a new environment. But if I were to raise my biggest fear, I am afraid that the defamation against me and my family, as well as Kei and his family, will continue,” Mako said.
Signalling her new life outside Japan’s small — and shrinking — Imperial family, Japanese media immediately altered the term with which they referred to her.
Ahead of the marriage, she was afforded the high honorific “Mako-sama”. Afterwards, in print and on TV and in common with 126m other Japanese, she became just plain “Mako-san”.