Former Japanese Princess Mako Leaves for U.S. With Husband Kei Komuro
Published Date: 11/15/2021
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
Japan’s former Princess Mako and her commoner husband Kei Komuro arrived in New York over the weekend after their marriage in October, leaving behind a country that has criticized their romance. Here’s the scene of their departure from Tokyo’s Haneda airport. The departure of Mako Komuro, the former Princess Mako, and Kei Komuro, both 30, as they boarded their plane amid a flurry of camera flashes at Haneda airport in Tokyo was carried live by major Japanese broadcasters. Kei Komuro, a graduate of Fordham University law school, has a job at a New York law firm. He has yet to pass his bar exam, another piece of news that local media have used to attack him, although it is common to pass after multiple attempts. Although Japan appears modern in many ways, values about family relations and the status of women remain somewhat antiquated, rooted in feudal practices. Such views were accentuated in the public's reaction to the marriage. Some Japanese feel they have a say in such matters because taxpayer money supports the imperial family system. Other princesses have married commoners and left the palace. But Mako is the first to have drawn such a public outcry, including a frenzied reaction on social media and in local tabloids. Speculation ranged from whether the couple could afford to live in Manhattan to how much money Kei Komuro would earn and if the former princess would end up financially supporting her husband. Mako is the niece of Emperor Naruhito, who also married a commoner, Masako. Masako often suffered mentally in the cloistered, regulated life of the imperial family. The negative media coverage surrounding Mako's marriage gave her what palace doctors described last month as a form of traumatic stress disorder. Former Emperor Akihito, the father of the current emperor, was the first member of the imperial family to marry a commoner. His father was the emperor under whom Japan fought and lost in World War II. The family holds no political power but serves as a symbol of the nation, attending ceremonial events and visiting disaster zones, and remains relatively popular. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Subscribe to our newest channel Quicktake Explained: https://bit.ly/3iERrup Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake