Princess of Japan who renounced royalty for love arrives in New York with her commoner husband

By Yuri Kageyama-

The Japanese princess who renounced her royal status to marry her college boyfriend, a commoner, arrived in New York on Sunday, where the newly married couple will be

.

The departure of Mako Komuro,

, both 30, was broadcast live on major Japanese broadcasters, showing them boarding a plane amid a flurry of camera flashes at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

Photos posted online later showed the couple arriving at JFK airport.

Former Princess Mako of Japan, left, removes her mask at a gate to board a plane to New York on her journey to settle in the U.S. Eugene Hoshiko / AP

Kei Komuro, a graduate of Fordham University School of Law, works at a New York law firm.

Komuro has not yet passed his exam to practice the career, another piece of news that local media have used to attack him, although it is common for it to pass after multiple attempts.

"I love Mako," she told reporters last month after registering her marriage in Tokyo.

They did so without a wedding banquet or any of the other customary rituals of celebration in the country.

"I want to live the only life I have with the person I love,

" he said.

Although Japan seems modern in many ways, values ​​about family relationships and the status of women are often considered somewhat outdated, rooted in feudal practices.

Those looks were reflected in the public's reaction to the former princess's marriage.

Some Japanese feel they have a voice in these matters because taxpayer money supports the imperial family system.

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Other princesses have married commoners and left the palace.

But

, including a major impact on social media and in local newspapers.

Speculation ranged from whether the couple could afford to live in Manhattan to how much money Kei Komuro would make and whether the former princess would end up supporting her husband financially.

Mako is the niece of Emperor Naruhito, who also married a commoner, Masako.

Masako often suffered mental health consequences from the cloistered and regulated life of the imperial family.

Negative media coverage of Mako's marriage gave her what palace doctors described last month as a form of traumatic stress disorder.

Princess Mako of Japan and her now husband, Kei Komuro, during the press conference after their simple wedding on October 26, 2021 in Tokyo.Nicolas Datiche / AP

The former emperor Akihito, the father of the current emperor, was the first member of the imperial family to marry a commoner.

His father was the emperor under whom Japan fought in World War II.

The family has no political power but serves as a symbol of the nation

, attending ceremonial events and visiting disaster areas, and remains relatively popular.

Mako's loss of royal status stems from the Imperial Household Law, which only allows male succession.

Only royal men have family names, while imperial family women only have titles and must leave if they marry commoners.

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Mako is the daughter of the emperor's younger brother, and her 15-year-old brother is expected to eventually take the throne.

To further complicate the former princess's marriage, announced in 2017, there was a financial dispute involving Kei Komuro's mother.

That problem was recently resolved, according to the Kyodo news service.

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When Kei Komuro returned from the United States in September, the couple saw each other again for the first time in three years.

.

In announcing her marriage, the former princess, a curator of museum exhibitions, made her choice clear.

"

" he said.

"Marriage is that decision necessary for us to continue living, staying true to our hearts," he said.