{"id":320447,"date":"2017-05-18T14:04:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T14:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=320447"},"modified":"2017-05-18T14:04:42","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T14:04:42","slug":"princess-mako-to-lose-japan-royal-status-by-marrying-commoner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=320447","title":{"rendered":"Princess Mako to lose Japan royal status by marrying commoner"},"content":{"rendered":"

A member of Japan’s royal family, Princess Mako, is to surrender her royal status by marrying a commoner.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito will become engaged to law firm worker Kei Komuro, also 25, whom she met while studying together.<\/p>\n

Japan’s imperial law requires a princess to leave the royal family after marrying a commoner.<\/p>\n

The move is expected to reignite debate on royal succession, with the emperor also possibly abdicating soon.<\/p>\n

Princess Mako and Kei Komuro met in 2012 at a restaurant, when they were both studying at the International Christian University in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/span><\/figure>\n

What happens now?<\/p>\n

The Imperial Household told local media that plans were under way for the princess’s engagement.<\/p>\n

The engagement will only be official after a ceremonial exchange of gifts, local media said.<\/p>\n

Public broadcaster NHK said the wedding is expected to take place next year.<\/p>\n

Asked about their engagement plans, Mr Komuro on Wednesday was quoted as saying: “Now is not the time for me to comment, but I want to speak at the right time.”<\/p>\n

Has this ever happened before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, Princess Mako’s aunt Princess Sayako married a commoner in 2005 – the first time a Japanese royal became a commoner.<\/p>\n

\"TOKYO,Former princess Sayako had to learn how to drive and buy furniture<\/span><\/figure>\n

Her wedding to an urban planner for the Tokyo city government, was described as a low key event. And Sayako was left to adjust to her more humble surrounding.<\/p>\n

She moved into a one-bedroom apartment, had to learn how to drive, shop in a supermarket and buy furniture.<\/p>\n

Princess Sayako is the only daughter of Emperor Akihito.<\/p>\n

How does this affect the royal family?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emperor Akihito, 83, hinted last August that he wanted to stand down, saying his age could interfere with his duties.<\/p>\n

\"japan<\/span><\/figure>\n

No Japanese emperor has abdicated for two centuries and the law currently does not allow it, but Japan is currently considering legal changes to allow the emperor to abdicate.<\/p>\n

However, the new legislation is expected to leave unchanged a males-only succession law – which has been at the centre of debate for many years.<\/p>\n

Because of that law there are only four heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne: Akihito’s sons Crown Prince Naruhito and Prince Fumihito, Prince Hisahito (Fumihito’s son) and the emperor’s younger brother, Prince Masahito.<\/p>\n

After news of Princess Mako’s upcoming engagement broke, Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying: “There is no change in our view to proceed with consideration of steps to ensure stable imperial succession.”<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A member of Japan’s royal family, Princess Mako, is to surrender her royal status by marrying a commoner. The 25-year-old eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito will become engaged to law firm worker Kei Komuro, also 25, whom she met while studying together. Japan’s imperial law requires a princess to leave the royal family after marrying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,117],"tags":[3,1351,7249],"class_list":["post-320447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-odd","tag-ghana-news","tag-japan","tag-princess-mako"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}