Although he is seen as a threat Japan’s Chrysanthemum Trine, Kei Komuro wants to be a loving husband for his vulnerable wife.
The man who wed Princess Mako, the older brother of the country’s probable future emperor on Tuesday sparked nationwide protests. He admits that his new wife’s mental condition is ‘not good’ but that he wants her to be well.
‘I love Mako. ‘We only get one life. I want us all to spend it with those we love,’ he said to the nation during a Tokyo televised press conference.
Now, the newlyweds are moving to New York to live a free life away from the formal and rigid royal palace where Mako was raised.

After an eight-year engagement, Princess Mako of Akishino (30, the eldest daughter and niece of Crown Prince Fumihito, married Kei Komuro, a Tokyo commoner. They have been together since 2013 and were originally due to marry three year ago. However, a financial scandal that involved his mother caused the wedding to be delayed.

Princess Mako (left), gave up her royal title to marry her commoner boyfriend, (right), in a ceremony that was stripped of all pomp and glory in Tokyo Tuesday
According to polls, as high as 80 percent of Japanese opposed the marriage that took places in Tokyo’s register office without any pomp or ceremony.
Kayo, Komuro’s widowed mom, raised him. His father died while he was still in elementary. His jobs in Japan included work in a French restaurant and in a bank.
He met Mako when they were both students at the International Christian University outside Tokyo.
His proposal propelled him onto the front page Japanese newspapers. His only claim to fame was being named Prince of Sea to lead a tourism campaign along the coast of Fujisawa.
The couple, now both 30, were ‘unofficially’ engaged in 2017 and plan to tie the knot in Nov 2018.
Initially the news was greeted with delight in Japan, but then a scandal grew up when it was discovered that Kayo had not repaid a 4million yen ($35,000) loan from a former fiancé, partly to pay her son’s tuition.

Komuro in his childhood. Komuro, 30, left Japan in 2017 to study law in New York.

Kayo, Komuro’s widowed mom, raised him. His father died while he was still in elementary school. He is pictured above nine years old with his father.

His only other claim to fame was being named Prince-of-the Sea to lead a tourism campaign at Fujisawa. He is seen wearing the Prince of the Sea sash from 2010
Komuro was accused of marrying the princess to make money or fame.
Komuro wrote a 24-page explanation regarding the money, claiming it was a donation and not a loan. He was even more disliked for it.
He eventually said he would repay it. However, it is not known if the money was ever returned.
An online poll found that only five percent of Japanese respondents would wish to congratulate or celebrate the couple. A staggering 91 percent said otherwise.
Despite the turmoil, Mako and Kei’s love remained strong. The ex-princess pleaded for support from the Japanese public last year.
She stated, “We are irreplaceable together – someone you can rely on during both joyful and unhappy times,” and she announced the wedding would go ahead.
“So, a marriage is a necessary decision for us to live while cherishing our feelings and protecting them.”

Komuro (pictured above, in Yokohama in 2017,) and Princess Mako (30 now), were ‘unofficially engaged’ in 2017, just four years after they first met at university.

Komuro is seen in 2009 at an amusement park along with his friends. Before moving to New York, Komuro worked in a Japanese bank and in a French restaurant.

Japan initially welcomed the news of the couple’s engagement with joy, but then it became clear that his mother owed him 4million yen (35,000). Pictured: Komuro in 2012
Tuesday was Tuesday and her words were almost identical. She said, “Kei is irreplaceable to me.” ‘Marriage was a choice that was necessary for us.
In prepared remarks, she also stated: “I acknowledge that there are different opinions about our marriage. I am sorry for the people who caused us to have problems.
“I’m grateful for people who were quiet about us or those who continued to support us without being confused and based on baseless information.
She said that inaccurate reporting on her husband had caused her great fear, stress, and sadness.
“The flow of arbitrary criticisms of Kei’s actions, along with one-sided speculation which ignored my feelings, made falsehoods somehow appear like reality and turn to an unprovoked tale that spread,” she said.
Komuro hasn’t lived in Japan for the past three years.
Soon after the marriage was canceled, he moved to New York. He studied law at Fordham University, Bronx, before landing a job as a clerk at Lowenstein Sandler, Manhattan, where he advised investors and companies on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings.

Komuro hasn’t lived in Japan in three years and returned to Japan in September to get ready for his wedding ceremony. His return to Japan was marred by his unattractive hairstyle, which he wore at Narita Airport.


He was also criticized for wearing pin-striped suits when he visited his future inlaws in 2017 (left). On Tuesday, he wore pinstripes for his second marriage ceremony (pictured).
He had become so disillusioned with his homeland that he didn’t return once to see his fiancée until going back in September to prepare for his wedding.
His trip brought even more negative publicity. Conservatives were shocked to see him arrive at Narita Airport wearing a ponytail that he had cut before getting married.
They called his hair ‘disrespectful’, and they piled on the insults when they noticed that he wore a pin-striped suit to visit his future in-laws rather than a solid-colored suit. He was also married in pinstripes.
He was also criticized because of his body language. His enemies claim that he keeps too much cash in his pockets.
But despite the negative feeling towards Komuro, the Japan Times called him ‘a polite and upstanding man.’
On the day of his wedding, he was named the winner of the New York State Bar Association’s annual student writing contest. His piece was on compliance problems in website accessibility.
His prize was a $2,000 check, which will not go far towards the $1.35million Mako gave up under pressure from an indifferent Japanese public. The amount has been paid out to the two princesses who previously left the royal household.

High profile: Princess Mako of Japan, right, donned a traditional Jūnihitoe as she took part in a procession through Tokyo’s Imperial Palace to mark her uncle’s formal ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019


The photo shows Princess Mako, Akishin, left, before her graduation ceremony at International Christian University, Mitaka, Tokyo, on March 26, 2014. She will lose her title as a princess and will not be able return to the family if she is divorced.
Only male members of Japan’s imperial family can marry ‘commoners’, so Mako’s decision for love to marry means many new things.
She is not considered a princess anymore – even if she marries and ends in divorce, she cannot return to the family.
She will be known simply as Mako Komuro, for the first-ever time in her life.
She will also need a passport, as royals don’t need them. This will allow her to move Stateside.
She is unable to live in the Imperial Palace. Any sons she and her husband have will not be in line for the male-only imperiorship.
That could be a problem in Japan, where only three people are allowed by the Imperial Household Law, to succeed Emperor Naruhito, 61, and one of them, his uncle Masohito is 85.

At the press conference, the couple read prepared statements in which he or she apologized for any distress they caused to their marriage and defended their decision of continuing with the ceremony.

There were also no official portraits, like these ones taken of then-Crown Prince Prince Naruhito and his wife Crown Princess Masako with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko after their wedding at the Imperial Palace June 9, 1993 in Tokyo
The other two are Nauruhito’s 55 year-old brother Akishino (Mako’s father) and Mako’s younger brother Hisahito (15).
The couple blame Mako’s negative publicity for Mako’s health decline.
The Imperial Household Agency stated earlier this year that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to public pressure.
This was made worse by the protestors, who gathered in a Tokyo Park holding signs opposing the marriage.