According to the Imperial Household Agency, except for the usual pomp and circumstances of most royal weddings, the couple submitted their registration to the local ward office at around 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
The newlyweds are expected to move to New York City, where Komuro works at a law firm.
In an effort to appease a disapproved public, Mako turned down a million-dollar payment from the government to which she was entitled as a departing royal.
As the emperor’s niece, Mako was not in line to the throne – Japan’s only male succession law prevents this from happening. And under Japanese law, female members of the royal household must renounce their titles and leave the palace if they marry a commoner.
Mako, who will no longer be known as a princess, is not the first woman to leave the Japanese royal family. The last royal to do so was his aunt, Sayako, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito, when she married town planner Yoshiki Kuroda in 2005.
The couple had planned to get married in 2018, but their wedding was postponed. The royal family said the delay was due to a “lack of preparation”, but others suspect it was due to reports Komuro’s mother failed to pay the $36,000 she borrowed from her former fiancé.
Komuro disputed the account, even issuing a 28-page statement earlier this year that said his mother believed the money was a gift and that she disputed will pay to settle. But tabloid gossip had already grown to ravage his family and every aspect of his life.
Years of speculation and abuse have taken their toll on Mako. Earlier this month, Mahal revealed that she suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“The princess feels pessimistic and finds it difficult to feel happy because of her constant fear of the destruction of her life,” Suyoshi Akiyama, director of NTT Medical Center Tokyo, Princess Mako’s psychiatrist, told the media at the Imperial Household Agency.
Komuro left Japan in 2018 for law school in New York and only returned in September for the wedding. He arrived in Japan with long hair tied in a ponytail, which created a frenzy in the media.
Tabloids ran up photos of 30-year-old Komuro’s ponytail from every angle, with some comparing it to a samurai’s top knot. On social media, some tweeted in support of her new look, while others said it was inappropriate for the groom to be a royal bride. Before Tuesday’s wedding, Komuro cut her ponytail.
A Quiet Life After the Royal Exit
Princess Mako and Komuro’s retreat from the royal spotlight is being compared to that of another famous couple – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
Markle’s engagement to Britain’s Prince Harry sparked controversy when it was first announced in November 2017. Some believed that a biracial, divorced American actress had no place in the British royal family.
But while Princess Mako’s “dramatic” exit from the royal family is somewhat comparable to “megxit” – the term for the British couple’s departure – the similarities end there, said Ken Roof, director of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University. . .
“Members of the British royal family grow up with great wealth. And they also spend a lot of time directly raising money for a lot of charitable causes, so learn how it works. So when Harry and Meghan tell different stories The royal family, they managed to make millions and millions of dollars, all the while wrapping themselves in feel-good, left-wing causes,” Roof said.
“I would guess that Mako and her future husband are going to behave like this after the wedding. In fact, I think what’s going to happen, they’re going to disappear.”
CNN’s Emiko Jozuka and Selina Wang contributed.
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