Kei Komuro, unofficially engaged to Princess Mako, corrected "misinformation" in a document released Thursday over a "money scandal" involving his mother and her former fiance.
In the document, which offers to explain a money dispute between his mother and the former fiance, Komuro said, "Here I correct wrong information as much as possible about 'financial troubles,' which has been circulating widely so far."
The document, which was faxed to the media, has 28 pages in total on A4-size paper. It inlcudes an "outline," a "text" and 36 "footnotes."
As a reason for releasing the document, Komuro said that Princess Mako's father Crown Prince Akishino, while speaking at a press conference in November last year, essentially asked him to provide a detailed explanation of the money problems. The crown prince said, "It is necessary to make it take visible shape."
Komuro was not present at the press conference.
According to the document, Komuro's mother got engaged to the man in September 2010, and received financial assistance from him, but the engagement was dissolved in September 2012.
His mother offered to settle the financial matter, but the man expressed his intention not to ask for repayment, according to the document. Komuro -- who said he recorded the conversation between his mother and the man at that time -- revealed in the document the content of their conversation.
Komuro explained that his basic intentions following the December 2017 reports about the money scandal were to "discuss the issue properly with the man to resolve it with his understanding."
He also said there was a misunderstanding about a document that he released in January 2019, as people thought he claimed that "the financial trouble was already resolved."
When his mother and the man's representative held talks between May 2019 and November last year, the man expressed his intention to "not ask for repayment of the money, and to announce the end of the talks," the document said. "But [Komuro and his mother] have lost contact with the man without reaching a settlement," it said.
As an example of incorrect information, he corrected some media reports that said the money from the man had been used to pay for Komuro's entrance and tuition fees at International Christian University, saying, "They were covered by savings and scholarships."
He also referred to their planned marriage, saying, "There is no change in our feelings and our thoughts about the marriage plan."
"I felt that the document was explained very carefully. I understand what actually happened," Yasuhiko Nishimura, head of the Imperial Household Agency, said at a regular press conference Thursday. "It is up to the people of Japan to judge for themselves how they perceive the document," he added.
The man's representative told The Yomiuri Shimbun that he has not read the document yet.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
