SEP 3:
A Japanese princess is giving up her royal status to marry a commoner she fell in love with because of his ‘bright smiles like the sun’. Japanese Emperor Akihito’s oldest grandchild, Princess Mako, 25, said on Sunday she will marry Kei Komuro, who was a classmate of hers at Tokyo’s International Christian University.
But women are not allowed to succeed Japan’s throne, meaning Princess Mako will lose her royal status once she weds 25-year-old Komuro, a legal assistant who loves playing jazz piano.
At a news conference, Princess Mako said: ‘First I was attracted by his bright smiles like the sun.’
She revealed they talked for the first time at an event for students ahead of a study-abroad program in Shibuya, Tokyo, about five years ago.
Over time, Princess Mako said she learned he is ‘a sincere, strong-minded, hard worker, and he has a big heart’.
The couple had a long-distance relationship while studying overseas for a year, with Princess Mako in Britain and Komuro in the US.
Komuro proposed to her one night after dinner, in December 2013.
Princess Mako has since introduced him to her parents, Prince Akishino, second in line to the Chrysanthemum throne, and Princess Kiko, as someone she wished to ‘share her future with.’
Komuro said he was so thankful and happy to have been accepted by her parents, Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, and her grandparents, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. Komuro pledged to have ‘a relaxed and peaceful’ home together. ‘Having a family still goes beyond my imagination, but I hope to make one that is warm, comfortable and filled with smiles,’ Princess Mako said.
Dailymail.co.uk