Princess’s wedding a symbol of changing times in Japan

THE wedding today of Japan’s Princess Sayako will be austere by Japanese royal standards — instead of the palace, a Tokyo hotel will be the venue.

There won't be any cake-cutting, wedding ring exchanges or even a honeymoon trip.

Sayako, daughter of Emperor Akihito, is marrying her way right out of the palace, which operates under a 1947 law that makes female blue bloods into commoners upon their nuptials and bars them from assuming the throne.

But Sayako, 36, marrying Tokyo bureaucrat Yoshiki Kuroda, 40, is also a symbol of changing times: hoping to stave off a succession crisis, the government is inching toward changing that law to let women reign.

Law professor Hidehiko Kasahara said: "She is likely to be the last princess to have to give up her royal status."

The impetus for the change is a lack of male heirs there hasn't been a male baby in the family for four decades.

While the focus has been on the looming succession difficulties, Sayako's case has been seen by some as more evidence that palace ways are woefully out of sync with the rest of modern Japan.

Unlike her brothers, she will give up her royal title, forego her generous royal allowance and move from the palace to a Tokyo apartment after her marriage.

To prepare for the shift to commoner existence, she has gone through a gruelling programme including driving lessons and practicing shopping at supermarkets.

Sayako will also get a last name Kuroda for the first time, since royal family members are only known by their first names and titles. She will also get the rights to vote, pay taxes, or get involved in politics.

Officials said that after the reception, the newlyweds will either drop by at Kuroda's house where he lives with his mother, or go straight to their new home.

Sayako will be the first princess to abandon her royal status in 45 years.