Japan and the whole world witnessed a fairytale story in which the princess gave up her royal identity for her boyfriend who doesn’t share the same royal imperial identity but a bond of love and connection. Japan’s Princess Mako, elder daughter of Prince Akishnino and Princess Kiko and niece of the emperor gave up her royal status and married her college sweetheart Kei Kumoro on Tuesday. She married her fiance Kei Kumoro after the yearlong engagement that has been the topic of political debate as their four-year engagement was dogged by money scandals and humiliation brought to the family because of the media scrutiny.
Princess Mako announced her engagement to her former classmate and boyfriend, Kei Kumoro in 2017. Both of them appeared to be in tip-to-toe love with each other. They showed interest in getting married in the following years which meant that the princess had to leave her royal eminence and become an ordinary citizen as a female member of the royal family forfeited their royal status upon marriage to a commoner.
Things were shiny and glamorous for a while but got drastically changed after Tabloid reported a huge money scandal involving Kumoro’s mother and former fiance. It was claimed that the mother and son duo hadn’t repaid the debt of about $35,000. This caught political fire and was the topic of debate and discussion over mainstream media for a very long time. The Imperial Household Agency failed to give any clear explanation about this which made it more controversial. ‘’The fact that Mako’s father and younger brother, Hisahito, are both in the line of succession after Emperor Naruhito, whose daughter is ineligible to inherit, makes the scandal particularly damaging’’ said Hideya Kawanishi, an associate professor of history at Nagoya University.
After the high-profile scandal surrounding the courtship and relentless attack on social media and humiliation of the couple, the families took a deeper dig at Princess’s mental health and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as told by the Imperial Housing Agency.
Japan’s royal family is one of the oldest continuous hereditary monarchies and still doesn’t allow women to the Chrysanthemum throne. Princess Mako from the very beginning was independent and chose to give up the royal status instead of just being a mute face in the royal family.
She even refused to take the traditional payment of 1.3 million dollars which is given to a female member after they depart from the family. Many citizens still don’t believe this is how the relationship will be between the former princess and the royal family. ‘’The taxpayers will be paying for this in one way or expected to another’’ a Tokyo resident said.
What does that look like for the future of Japan’s throne? This is one of the questions which is yet to be unfolded and the world will see in the near future. Both of them are expected to move to the US where Kei Kumoro works with a law firm. This move by the former princess is being compared with British royals Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and the newlywed has acquired the nickname ‘’ Japan’s Harry and Meghan.
”We only get one life” said Mako after marrying Kei Kumoro during a conference.
