Princess Mako's engagement formally announced; wedding likely next autumn

This is rather anticlimactic since we've known about this for months and months.

I'm free, I'm free,at last I'm free!

Sweet couple, good luck :)

I wish them luck as I would any newly-wed couple.

It always seemed strange to me, that prince Akishino would send his daughters to a Christian university.

His marriage to a catholic woman and connection to foreign aid groups associated with the Catholic Church also spurred rumors that he was secretly a Christian.

They look happy, let's hope they stay that way.

It always seemed strange to me, that prince Akishino would send his daughters to a Christian university.

His mother (Empress Michiko) also had a Christian education, attending the Sacred Heart Junior and Senior High School, and graduating from the University of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo.

Mixing religions doesn't seem to be much of a problem in Japan.

ever heard of doshita university? at least it is a love marriage and not an arranged marriage, but i don't go in those circles so i don't know the facts.

Ah the first marriage is always full of hope

150 Million Yen as a getting Married gift ?! And we're the ones paying it ?!

@Educator60

Sorry, but such an Upper class/Wealthy/ex-Royalty person, will have a lot more influence/connections than the man in the street who's footing the bill. So to say, she wont have a pretty penny or two after becoming a commoner, and needs the payoff, as she'll no longer have opportunities that are available to others is sheer nonsense. What do we (the common people) get in return for that 150 Million ?

Children of the Royal Family don't have a choice as to what station in life they are born into and have a lot of restrictions as to what they can do as they grow up

No one has a choice as to what station in life they are born into. Poor folk also have a lot of restrictions as to what they can do as they grow up, often not even being able to get a decent education if they or their parents cannot afford to pay for it. Yet the taxes they pay on their minimum-wage income and on every purchase they make, will go in part to giving a congenitally rich girl what amounts to a very hefty dowry.

Mako, like her aunt and other younger members of the family have devoted themselves to service ..... working hard for every yen we pay them

She's made a few trips to visit other royals overseas, and been present at a few official events. How is this 'working hard'?

and this us like a retirement payment

At twenty-five??

In exchange for shedding her royalty, she gets the vote, freedom from the Kunaicho and a pretty dishy hubby who by the looks of him is perfectly capable of supporting her in a manner to which many lesser folk would love to become accustomed. That should be enough.

Anyone who thinks that's all she's done, obviously hasn't been paying close attention.

I most certainly have not. Got much better things to do with my time than 'pay close attention' to the antics of celebs, be they common or royal. But please, enlighten us. The rest of us have to pay into the pension scheme for a minimum of 25 years before we're entitled to receive a pittance from the coffers in our old age. What exactly has this 25-year-old done in the five years since she became an adult, that makes it 'fair' for her to receive a 'retirement' payment that is well over five times the amount a person who has paid into the kokumin nenkin for the full forty years would receive if they lived to be a hundred?

If people want to say there shouldn't be a royal family or any payment for their upkeep from our taxes, that's one thing.

Yes it is. I'm quite happy to say that. It's a kind of gilded slavery that has no place in the modern world, especially the version stage-managed by the Kunaicho. Set them all free. I'm sure they'd all be much happier.

(I've got nothing against the royal family in general as individuals, or against this princess in particular, and I hope she has a very happy and fruitful married life. Marrying out of the royal family certainly seems to bring more happiness to its women than marrying into it does. Good luck to her.)

his "smile that shined like the sun."

gag

$1.4 million is good severance pay

the princess "quietly watches me like the moon"

his "smile that shined like the sun."

I'd bet money that somebody in the IHA wrote these, too corny, too much of a coincidence, and too in line with Japanese tradition/mythology

Constantly having to get dressed up, make polite talk, and being the center of intense scrutiny, observe all the ritual (much of which goes on in private so the public has little idea of the time and energy involved) ....

Stuff that 'goes on in private so that the public has little idea' seems a bit ... pointless? Certainly not worth over five times the pay for an eighth of the time.

....are my idea of torture

This I agree with. Which is why I think the very idea of people being born into a position they have no say in and cannot escape from is horrendous. It violates the rights guaranteed to every other Japanese person under the constitution. The system should be abolished, for the sakes of the human beings stuck in it even more than for the sake of the drain on the national coffers.

I had a very quick look at Mako's schedule for January this year - thank you for the link.

New Year rituals - meaningless outside of the royal bubble.

A trip to Ikebukuro to a Lacquerware exhibition and on the same day to Shinjuku to see lacquerware being made.

A short meeting with the Japanese ambassador to Paraguay and his wife.

A couple more rituals.

And that's it. Two days' 'work' in a month.

Arrest my case. (Granted, her parents, and especially her Dad, have a fuller schedule, though most of it appears to be equally pointless.)

Arrest my case. (Granted, her parents, and especially her Dad, have a fuller schedule, though most of it appears to be equally pointless.)

Most Japanese consider the Imperial Family to be Japan's most trustworthy diplomats. Considering it is the longest lasting monarchy in a nation where cabinet shuffles and ministers suddenly changing happens several times a year, I don't blame them.

I bet she can't wait to get married and gain some freedom. Why do they have to wait year?

Why do they have to wait year?

There's probably all kinds of rituals that have to go on (in private, of course, so that us commoners have little idea of the time and energy involved). I imagine they must take up the best part of a year and involve lots of bowing, scraping, stiff collars, stiffer kimono and the stiffest of wigs. Heavy shades of Gormenghast, but not so entertaining when it isn't fantasy.

Most Japanese consider the Imperial Family to be Japan's most trustworthy diplomats. 

Considering the alternative, that's faint praise indeed.....

Japan fought to keep their monarchy in their WW2 "unconditional" surrender

Kudos to Cleo and  Educator60.

So instead of the compensatory lump sum allowance, © KYODO shame on you, straight to the tower!!!

I suggest Princess Mako has a role. Why not? If its $1,5 m that could be raised independently. Made my day, congratulations to the happy couple.

Do Royal families all around the world shop at the same place? I'm sure I've seen Queen Elizabeth II wear something similar over the years to what Mako is wearing.

Do Royal families all around the world shop at the same place?

I don't think they shop, they order-make.

Hello everyone,

I don't know at all the reason why the princess is excluded but if she wants to remain in the imperial family, she should :

Marry to a member of the Kazoku (old nobility) ??

No marry at all ??

i hope someone has got some enlightenments please.

arigato..

The questions that the press was asking them was completely ridiculous! "How did you propose?" "What do you call each other?"...c'mon leave em alone! Komuro at one point refused to answer these stupid questions, which I thought was hilarious