Japanese princess announces engagement

After years of disappointing speculation about suitors, the engagement of Princess Sayako to a Tokyo city bureaucrat, a commoner, became official today with an announcement by Japan’s Imperial Household Agency.

Japan had eagerly awaited word of the engagement between Sayako, 35, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and Yoshiki Kuroda, 39. Some had given up, assuming the princess would stay single – just like the growing ranks of less royal women in Japan, who are opting to choose careers over marriage.

The nation rejoiced with the announcement, which received prominent coverage on television news. The Asahi Shimbun, a major nationwide newspaper, produced an extra edition, featuring a photo of the pair sitting side by side – their first public appearance as a couple.

At a news conference at the moat-enclosed palace, Sayako, wearing a pale green suit and pearls, recalled Kuroda as “tall and serious” from her childhood when he was a schoolmate of her older brother Prince Akishino. They were reunited about two years ago at Akishino’s tennis party.

He proposed over tea at Akishino’s home. She accepted on the spot.

“I told him OK,” she said in almost a whisper after breaking into a big smile.

Unlike royalty in Western countries, the activities of Japan’s imperial family members are closely orchestrated and guarded. The couple met discreetly at Akishino’s palace and exchanged telephone calls and e-mail.

As with women born in the imperial family, Sayako will become a commoner after she marries, move out of the palace and lose her royal title Norinomiya.

Toshio Yuasa, grand steward of the Imperial Household, said the wedding will probably be set for the latter half of next year, but dates and place were undecided.

Sayako said she hesitated to announce the engagement in the wake of the recent quake and tsunami disaster that has killed more than 77,000 people across Asia and Africa.

But they decided to go ahead because the announcement had already been delayed twice – once out of consideration for victims of an earthquake in northern Japan, and then for the December 18 death of Sayako’s great aunt, Princess Takamatsu, aged 92.

Japan – where tradition calls for women to marry before age 30 – waited a long time for Sayako to find a partner. Several reports of potential courtships, including a classical violinist and an expert in tea ceremony, proved false.

“Marriage is reason to celebrate for anyone so it’s great,” said Tomoko Katsura, 20, who acknowledged she would like to get married before 30.

The public’s relatively silent and perhaps even warm acceptance of the princess’ unwed status has been a reflection of how Japanese society has changed to accept independent women.

Sayako, an accomplished traditional Japanese-style dancer, is an ornithologist at an institute near Tokyo, where she is researching kingfishers and bird flu.

The bespectacled, low-key Kuroda, affectionately known to friends – and now the nation – as “Kuro-chan”, is a former banker who now works at city hall.

The princess’ quiet attention to detail was what attracted him, he said.

“It was fun speaking with her, and I felt a sense of peace in my heart,” Kuroda told reporters, shrugging off a question about the difficulties he may face about life with a princess. “I never felt there was much difference between what the princess values and what I value.”

The engagement is a bright spot for the imperial family following Princess Takamatsu’s death and the decision by Princess Masako, wife of Prince Naruhito - heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne and Sayako’s brother – to withdraw from official duties for a year because of a stress-related illness.

The emperor and empress were delighted by their daughter’s engagement.

“We are happy the young couple decided after nearly two years that they will spend their future lives together,” they said in a statement.