Japan’s former princess leaves for US with commoner husband

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese princess who gave up her royal status to marry her commoner college sweetheart has arrived in New York as the couple left behind a nation that has criticized their romance. The departure of Mako Komuro, the former Princess Mako, and Kei Komuro, both 30, was carried live by major Japanese broadcasters, showing them boarding a plane amid a flurry of camera flashes at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Photos posted online showed the couple arriving at New York’s JFK Airport Sunday. Other princesses have married commoners and left the palace. But Mako is the first to have drawn such a public outcry, including a frenzied reaction on social media and in local tabloids. Mako’s loss of royal status comes from the Imperial House Law, which allows only male succession.