A high-pressure royal household steeped in heritage; mental-health issues triggered by relentless media scrutiny; and, eventually, a widely publicised departure overseas to start a new, more-free life in the United States.
Sound familiar? No, this is not about Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex– it’s the story of Japan’s Princess Mako, who in recent days captured global headlines when she defied critics and controversy with a steely display of royal dignity and married her beloved college sweetheart Kei Komuro. The couple – aka Mr and Mrs Komuro, both 30 – are planning to start a new life, far from the pressures of the Imperial family, in New York, where the former princess will reportedly seek work in the art world, while her lawyer husband joins a law firm.
Their subdued nuptials offered a clue into the depths of the controversy that has swirled for close to four years around the couple. Mako, a niece of the current Emperor, pointedly declined the deeply symbolic ceremonies and rituals long associated with Japan’s Imperial weddings – swapping a shrine among the sanctuaries and glittering state banquets for administrative paperwork.
In an unprecedented break from tradition, Mako also turned down a payout of close to £1m, which is typically given to female members of the Imperial family who are forced to start a new life as a commoner upon marriage, due to strict male-only succession laws. Their marriage was then sealed with a press conference at a Tokyo hotel, with the new couple reading out written replies to just five questions, submitted earlier by media – while expressing their love and support for one another. ‘Kei is irreplaceable for me,’ said Mako. ‘For us, marriage is a necessary choice to live while cherishing our hearts.’
The newlyweds are no doubt hoping that their marriage will bring to an end the litany of challenges they surmounted to be together. While news of their engagement in September 2017 was initially welcomed by the Japanese public, tabloid reports of a financial dispute relating to Komuro’s mother quickly threw a spanner in the works, resulting in a hasty postponement.
The interim period until their 26 October marriage was no doubt turbulent for the young couple: Komuro moved to New York to study law, before being reunited in person with Mako for the first time in three years just weeks before their marriage. And throughout, Japanese media scrutiny remained unrelenting – with tabloids critiquing everything about Komuro, from his middle-class upbringing down to his ‘inappropriate’ ponytail.
Mako – already raised in an environment of deep scrutiny, with every move choreographed by Imperial Household officials – was also at the receiving end of intense pressure, no doubt from the traditions and expectations inside the Imperial family, as well as from press and a divided public. Just a few days before she wed, officials revealed that the princess had been diagnosed with a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result.
No doubt about it, it’s a poignant echo of the challenges faced by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, ahead of their high-profile ‘Megxit’ departure from the UK in January last year. Yet despite the surface similarities, cultural currents flowing around the two couples are as diverse as they are complex. For Mako, a key challenge lies in the gender disparities that, despite slight recent improvements, fundamentally underpin Japanese society. This is, after all, a nation where, for all its high-tech modernity, the issue of women keeping their own surnames after marriage and the mandatory wearing of high heels in workplaces are still hotly divisive political issues. Not to forget the sensitive male-only succession laws that govern the fast-shrinking Imperial family, despite endangering its future, with only three male heirs at present.
It’s impossible to overstate how deeply the nation still respects the Imperial family – whose ancestral line is believed to date back thousands of years to Japan’s original sun goddess – despite being mainly symbolic and stripped of political powers since the Second World War. This was apparent from the sedate protesters who filled the streets in parts of central Tokyo ahead of the wedding – mainly conservative older-generation ladies in neat hats, politely denouncing with placards the ‘cursed’ marriage.
‘Although the Imperial Family has only a symbolic role in contemporary Japan, that symbolic role is very important to many people, and perhaps makes people believe that the Imperial Family must represent what they see as an ideal family,’ explains Chelsea Szendi Schieder, a professor of economics and gender studies expert at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.
In a further cultural disparity with the Sussexes, the Japanese couple are unlikely to embrace the spotlight or seek deals with Netflix and Spotlight – instead, they have openly stated a desire to live a private, below-the-radar life (and no, Mako doesn’t plan to do an Oprah interview, as she politely informed the press conference, when asked).
The former princess is now waiting for her first passport to arrive – and the moment it does? She will fly around the world to start her new life in New York, where a life of unfamiliar freedom awaits her as Mrs Komuro.