JAPAN TODAY



 

Mako Komuro, the former princess who left Japan after marrying her college sweetheart in October, has been making use of her background in art history through curating work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is colloquially referred to as the MET.

It’s not uncommon for royals — or former royals — to work as a curator or in an art gallery. For example, in the U.K., Princess Eugenie, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth, has been the director of a contemporary art gallery in London since 2015.

But a source well-versed in the matter said that Komuro is not on staff at the MET, suggesting that she is simply volunteering.

Komuro has been involved with an exhibition of hanging-scroll paintings inspired by the life of Ippen (1239-1289), a monk who traveled around Japan during the Kamakura Period (1192-1333) introducing Buddhism to the masses by chanting prayers while dancing.

The former princess graduated from the International Christian University in Tokyo with a degree in art and cultural heritage. She also twice studied abroad in the U.K. After studying art history at the University of Edinburgh beginning in 2012, Komuro went on to obtain her master’s degree in art museum and gallery studies at the University of Leicester in 2016.

While still a royal, the 30-year-old princess worked as a special researcher at the University of Tokyo’s esteemed University Museum, juggling her research with royal duties.

In 2017, the spotlight fell on her when she — still a princess and the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Akishino — announced her intention to marry Kei Komuro, a paralegal and her college sweetheart.

The celebratory news, however, was later clouded by a financial scandal involving Kei Komuro’s mother, resulting in the couple being forced to postpone their marriage for three years. They eventually tied the knot in October, but without a ceremony or the wedding rituals traditionally conducted for members of the royal family.

During a news conference right after their marriage, neither of the couple provided specifics about their new life in New York, saying in a written response that it was a “private matter.”

“What I would like is just to lead a peaceful life in my new environment,” Mako Komuro wrote.

The MET was founded in 1870 and has about 1.5 million items representing the world’s cultural heritage spanning more than 5,000 years. The Komuros reportedly live about a 10-minute drive from the museum in a luxury apartment district.