Former Japanese Princess Mako Komuro volunteers at the Met after marrying commoner boyfriend

Former Japanese Princess Mako Komuro now has a position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Mako is reportedly working in the museum’s Asian art collection as an unpaid volunteer, assisting curators prepare an exhibition of paintings related to a 13th century monk who traveled through Japan introducing Buddhism.

With a degree in art from International Christian University and a master’s in art museums and gallery studies from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, Mako certainly has the qualifications to work at the Met.

Mako and her husband, Kei Komuro, moved to New York last year following their marriage in Japan last October that was publicly scrutinized due to Komuro’s commoner status. Mako, who was born a member of the royal family, married Komuro, renouncing her royal status as well as forfeiting a $1.3 million payout that she would have received had she married nobility.

The couple met in 2013 while studying at International Christian University and got engaged in 2017. Their marriage in 2021, a small civil ceremony in Tokyo, marked the first time in post-World War II Japan that a female royal got married without a traditional ceremony.

The union has been protested in Japan, with the media digging into Kei’s past and bringing up allegations of financial dishonesty against his mother. Comparisons to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who also made news for exiting the British royal family, have inevitably been drawn, with nicknames such as “Japan’s Harry and Meghan” being assigned to the couple.

According to the imperial household agency, Mako developed post-traumatic stress disorder over the widely negative media coverage and public criticism.

Her husband Komuro is an aspiring lawyer with a law degree from Fordham University and is currently working at the Lowenstein Sandler law firm in Manhattan. He is reportedly trying to pass the New York State bar exam.

The two live in a one-bedroom apartment in New York overlooking the Hudson River. It is reportedly just 10 minutes from the Met, and similar apartments in their building cost around $4,300 monthly.

Featured Image via BBC News

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