The marriage press conference held by former Princess Mako, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Akishino, and her college classmate Kei Komuro ended in a little over 10 minutes on Tuesday, with a planned verbal Q&A session canceled.
The marriage was marked by a number of unusual factors. Due to critical public sentiment, the couple did not go through Imperial marriage rituals and the former princess, who became commoner Mako Komuro on Tuesday, declined a lump-sum payment meant for a princess leaving the Imperial family for marriage.
It was Monday, the day before the marriage, that the Imperial Household Agency announced that there would no longer be a verbal Q&A session at the press conference. The reason for this was that "there were questions that could have given the impression that false information was factual." In a written response issued Tuesday, Mako revealed her feelings, saying, "I was shocked by the questions and felt that it would be impossible for me to answer the questions verbally, as my fears would be rekindled and my psychological damage would worsen."
Prior to the press conference, the Imperial household press club consisting of newspapers, news agencies and TV stations submitted three questions, and the Japan Magazine Publishers Association and the Foreign Press in Japan submitted one question each. In her written response, Mako stated that the magazine association's questions contained "incorrect information."
In response to the allegations that Kei's mother "received a survivor's pension illegally" and that he "took advantage of the Imperial family" to enroll in and receive a scholarship from a U.S. law school, Kei denied the allegations, saying, "There are no such facts."
Only the Imperial household press club is invited to press conferences for birthdays of the Emperor and Crown Prince Akishino. But this time, the Imperial Household Agency called for the participation of the magazine association and the foreign press as well, after consulting with Mako and Kei, because the press conference would be held after Mako became a commoner.
A precedent for that framework was the November 2005 marriage of the daughter of the Emperor Emeritus and the Empress Emerita, Sayako Kuroda, in which the mood at the press conference was warm.
A senior official of the Imperial Household Agency commented on how the press conference turned out after many twists and turns: "[The former princess] was going to answer verbally, but she seems to have thought it would be impossible. We apologize for the mental strain this has placed on her."
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