In the Japanese entertainment world, there’s a clear distinction between celebrities (芸能人; geinoujin) and “regular folk” (一般人; ippanjin). If a celebrity marries a non-celebrity, the celeb’s agency can usually exert enough pressure on the press to protect a modicum of their privacy. You’ll generally only hear a non-celebrity spouse referred to as a “regular man” or “regular woman”.
There are, of course, exceptions. Announcer Kobayashi Maya and her husband, Kunimitsu Akira, attempted to use Kobayashi’s fame to boost Kunimitsu’s reputation as a faith healer. (Unfortunately for them, it has the opposite effect of tanking Kobayashi’s career and trashing her family’s good name.)
And then there’s the case of The Princess Formerly Known as Akishinonomiya Mako and her husband, Komuro Kei.
Ever since former Princess Mako and Komuro announced their marriage, Komuro’s been an intense focus of the Japanese mainstream and tabloid presses. At first, the issue was a large debt that a former fiance of Komuro’s mother claimed the family owed him. He attested that he lent millions of yen to Komuro’s mom to help with her son’s education.
Komuro’s family denied the money was ever a loan. But the allegation led to fear-mongering in the tabloids. Mako’s marriage meant she’d have to leave the royal family, at which point she’d receive a lump sum to help her in her post-royal life. That raised the specter that the Komuro newlyweds would use public money to pay off a private debt.
The “concern” soon grew into a full-blown hate campaign against Komuro Kei. Detractors claimed he was “using” the royal family’s name to boost his own career[3].
Somehow, the couple pushed through the resistance, got married, and moved to New York. Kei paid off the debt – some 4 million yen – shortly before moving[1]. Mako even refused her million-dollar payout from the Japanese government to help smooth
You’d think that’d have been the end of their troubles. But the Japanese press wouldn’t let up. And the New York City press – mainly in the form of the low-morality troglodytes who drag their knuckles through the halls of the New York Post – decided to get its kicks in as well.
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Let the mockery begin
Komuro Kei has been aiming for the international stage ever since he was a kid. He’s attended international schools for the majority of his life, where he’s worked assiduously on his English skills. He attended the Canadian International School for middle and high school and then went on to study at International Christian University and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
Komuro then subsequently studied at Fordham Law School. Part of the motivation for going to Fordham was to buy him and Mako some time to resolve the issues surrounding their engagement. But the couple still received a boatload of criticism when the Imperial Household officially announced their engagement in September 2021.
The couple was officially married on October 26th, 2021. Royal Princess Akishinonomiya Mako was now officially Komuro Mako – just a regular Japanese citizen like everyone else.
But she and her husband sure weren’t treated that way.
Around this same time, Kei took the New York State bar exam. He had a job lined up at a law firm in New York City, where the couple intended to move after they married.
Let that sink in for a moment. At the same time that Komuro Kei and Mako were enduring daily abuse by the press, Kei was attempting to pass a bar exam in his second language. I don’t know how he survived, honestly. The stress alone would’ve killed me.
Shortly after their marriage, the press caught on that Kei flunked his first run at the bar exam. Despite the couple now being regular citizens, the development somehow made headline news and entered Twitter’s trending topics.
The subject also grabbed the attention of the New York press, who seemed overjoyed to have a new target they could jeer at. Reporters from the New York Post, a used dishrag masquerading as legible English, rejoiced in how he failed after his wife had given up That Princess Life to be by his side.
Third time’s the charm
The situation didn’t get any better after Komuro failed the exam a second time. But his bumpy ride came to an abrupt end this month. Kei’s third attempt at the bar was a success and he is now a bar-certified attorney in the state of New York.
I can’t even imagine achieving something as difficult as Komuro did here. The only experience that comes close is taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). I failed level N2 of that test three times. I passed the highest level, N1, after I spent three years basically watching Japanese TV and reading Japanese books daily.
Komuro didn’t just pass an exam in his non-native language. He did so on a subject – New York and United States law – that required extensive reading and memorization on top of his second language skills. The man should have a ticker tape parade in his honor.
Sources inside the royal family said that Mako’s father and mother were “happy” about Komuro’s accomplishment[4]. On Twitter, a large number of voices praised Komuro as well – and called for his detractors to back off.
Komuro’s success also means that he will transition out of his law clerk status at his firm – which means a huge boost in pay. This will take away some of the rampant speculations that the Komuros were piling up debt to afford their apartment in Hell’s Kitchen.
That doesn’t mean the press won’t have anything to talk about. There’s some speculation the couple and the royal family may reconnect after having little contact since their marriage. The press is also speculating what Mako will do for work. Mako has a Master’s in Museum Sciences from the University of Leicester. However, she would need a doctorate to work at New York City’s more lauded institutions, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art[5].
Of course, the press has another choice. They could let Mako and Kei, two private citizens, live out the rest of their lives free from the public spotlight.
Sadly, you and I both know how likely that is to happen.
What to read next
Sources
[1] 小室圭さん母親の400万円「借金」問題 「解決」を妨げていたのは誰だ 緊急連載・社会学的皇室ウォッチング！／10＝成城大教授・森暢平〈サンデー毎日〉. Mainichi Weekly Economist
[2] 小室圭. Wikipedia JP
[3] 小室圭さんが嫌われる理由「皇室の名前を利用」に世間反発か.
[4] 小室さん合格に「お喜びのご様子とお見受けします」秋篠宮ご夫妻の様子を側近幹部がコメント. TBS News Dig
[5] 小室圭さん「弁護士の仲間入りができました」 喜びの声も「合格で急に秋篠宮家と仲良くなるわけではない」と関係者. Asahi Dot
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