After a four-year engagement, Princess Mako, the niece of 61-year-old Emperor Naruhito of Japan, is marrying her longtime boyfriend, Kei Komuro.
Japan’s imperial law strips women of their royal status after marriage, so the Princess will exit the family, leaving behind 12 women and five men.
Royal women in Japan have been forced to strictly adhere to certain expectations – they must be supportive of their husbands, produce an heir, and be a guardian of Japan’s traditions. If they fall short they are savagely criticised, as has been seen in Ms. Mako’s case.
Japan will maintain tradition in the imperial household even if it means the end of the monarchy.
In addition to the resistance over their engagement, Mako even turned down a 152.5 million yen ($1.3 million) dowry that’s traditionally been awarded to women in the royal family who’ve married, making her the first in the Japanese Royal tradition since World War II to do so.
“It’s a radical departure from what is expected from women of the Imperial family,” said Shihoko Goto, Deputy Director for Geoeconomics at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank, and an Asian affairs specialist. “She is prepared to make financial sacrifices and uproot herself from the comfort, safety, and privileges of her life to pursue her own path.”
There were 67 members of Japan’s royal family after World War II. As of Tuesday, there will be just 17, and only three heirs to the throne among them: the Emperor’s 85-year-old uncle, Prince Masahito; his brother, Crown Prince Fumihito, age 55; and his nephew, and Princess Mako’s brother, Hisahito, age 15.
Japan is among a handful of modern monarchies that limits succession to men, such as the systems seen in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Morocco in the present day.
There have been previous calls to allow women to be part of the line of succession, as a way to shore up the world’s oldest, continuous, hereditary monarchy, and to bring it in line with more modern ideas about gender equality, and Ms. Mako’s engagement and subsequent marriage went a-ways in bolstering that progressive thought.
Ironically, the imperial family can’t do anything about it. The role of the monarchy, including its line of succession, is governed by modern Japanese law.
In the past two decades, several top political officials have considered changing the rules, to no avail.
In 2006, proposed legislation to allow female heirs to be in line to the throne was shelved after the birth of Prince Hisahito, the first male child in almost four decades. I
In 2012, then-premier Yoshihiko Noda considered allowing princesses to create their own royal branches and keep their status when they marry, an effort that stalled when he was replaced by Shinzo Abe.
More recently, ex-premier Yoshihide Suga launched an expert panel to look into the matter, an inquiry that petered out when he failed to win re-election.
His successor, current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, opposes passing down the throne through an empress.
Royal marriages in Japan have been linked to an uptick in marriages and births, a long-sought goal in a country with an aging population.
“We do not expect Princess Mako’s marriage to have a big impact on the macro economy,” says Yuki Masujima, a Senior Economist with Bloomberg Economics. “But it could have positive impacts on consumer sentiment and marriage rate, after a sharp drop due to the Covid crisis.”
After the wedding, the newlyweds plan to live in the U.S., without financial support from the royal family or the Japanese government. Her fiance reportedly secured a job with a Manhattan law firm, while Princess Mako who has a master’s degree in art museum studies has not announced her plans.