by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2014
Born Princess Mako of Akishino (Mako Naishinnō), she is the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and the former Kiko Kawashima and the eldest grandchild of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. She was born on October 23, 1991, at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo.
Mako has two younger siblings:
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- Princess Kako of Akishino (born 1994)
- Prince Hisahito of Akishino (born 2006)
Princess Mako (left) with her siblings, 2012. photo: Imperial Household Agency
Mako attended the Gakushūin School for her primary and secondary education. She then studied English at University College Dublin in 2010, and the University of Edinburgh in 2012. In 2014, she graduated from the International Christian University in Tokyo, with a degree in Art and Cultural Heritage. In 2016, Mako received a Masters Degree in art museum and gallery studies at the University of Leicester in England. She worked as a researcher at the Research Museum of the University of Tokyo until August 2021.
source: The Telegraph/AP
Upon coming of age in October 2011, Mako received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown. She was an active member of the Imperial Family, attended most formal events, and made official visits to several foreign countries.
Kei Komuro and Princess Mako at their engagement press conference; Credit – Japan Times
In May 2017, it was announced that Mako would marry commoner Kei Komuro whom she met at the International Christian University. The engagement was officially announced in September 2017. The couple was expected to marry on November 4, 2018. However, it was announced on February 6, 2018, that the formal engagement and wedding would be postponed until at least 2020, saying the couple was not yet ready for marriage. In June 2019, Mako’s father Crown Prince Akishino said he did not know whether the marriage would take place following reports that Komuro’s mother was involved in a financial dispute. It was alleged that Komuro’s mother received four million yen from her former fiancé, some of which went towards paying Komuro’s tuition fees. The dispute resulted in the Imperial Family and the public’s disapproval of the marriage. In November 2020, the Imperial Household Agency announced that there was still no date for the marriage.
In September 2021, it was reported that the marriage would take place in the form of a simple ceremony at a government office on October 26, 2021. Mako announced that she would not accept the Japanese government’s taxpayer-funded payment of approximately $1.3 million given to royal women upon leaving the Imperial Family. According to Article 12 of the Imperial Household Law of 1947, “In case a female of the Imperial Family marries a person other than the Emperor or a member of the Imperial Family, she shall lose the status of Imperial Family member.” Upon her marriage, Princess Mako would have to relinquish her title from birth, her official membership in the Imperial Family, and any monetary allowance from the state. After her marriage, Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako would be known as Mako Komuro. Mako’s paternal aunt Sayako Kuroda, the only daughter of her grandfather Emperor Akihito, and three of Emperor Akihito’s sisters are among the Japanese princesses since the end of World War II who have been required to relinquish their membership in the Imperial Family upon their marriages to commoners.
Kei Komuro and Mako Komuro at the press event after their marriage
On October 26, 2021, Mako and Kei Komuro were married with none of the traditional rites associated with Japanese royal weddings due to the public disapproval of the groom. Mako, carrying a bouquet of flowers, came out of her family’s residence with her parents, Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, and her younger sister Princess Kako. Prince Hisahito, Mako’s younger brother, was not present. Before a crowd of journalists, the family formally bowed to each other. In an unusual move for a member of the Japanese Imperial Family, Princess Kako pulled her older sister into an embrace. Mako then got into a car alone and left for the marriage office where the couple registered their marriage. At a press event in the afternoon, Mako appeared alongside her husband in front of a selected group of journalists. The newlyweds apologized for any trouble caused by their marriage and expressed gratitude to those who supported them.
Mako lives in the United States with her husband Kei Komuro, who received a law degree from Fordham University in New York City in 2021 and is employed by the New York-based law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
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