Japan princess gets engaged to commoner

Japan’s Princess Mako and her fiancé – a commoner – announced their engagement Sunday, a match which will cost the princess her royal status according to a law that highlights the male-dominated nature of Japan’s monarchy.

Like all female imperial family members, Mako, who is Emperor Akihito’s eldest granddaughter, forfeits her status upon marriage to a commoner under a controversial tradition.

But at a televised press conference held to announce her engagement, she told the nation that she felt “really happy.”

“I was aware since my childhood that I’ll leave a royal status once I marry,” she said. “While I worked to help the emperor and fulfill duties as a royal family member as much as I can, I’ve been cherishing my own life.”

Her fiancé, Kei Komuro, a telegenic 25-year-old who works at a law firm and once won a tourism promotion contest to be crowned “Prince of the Sea,” said he had proposed to her more than three years ago.

He described Mako as someone who quietly watches over him “like the moon.”

The princess said his smile was “like the sun.”

The announcement had originally been planned for July but the couple decided to postpone it out of consideration for a southern region hit by heavy rains and flooding in the month. An official of the Imperial Household Agency said their wedding will take place after the summer of 2018.

Mako, 25, is the eldest daughter of Prince Akishino, Akihito’s second son. The law removing her royal status upon marriage does not apply to male royals, with Akihito and both his sons wedded to commoners.