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Former Japanese Princess Mako and her husband, Kei Komuro, are clearly settling into their new, low-key lives in the Big Apple.
In fact, the pair could easily have been mistaken for any other working couple when they were recently pictured going about their business in the cosmopolitan US city.
Mako was dressed casually in a plain black T-shirt and baggy jeans that were cuffed at the hem while Komuro was dressed in a black suit paired with a crisp white button-down shirt that was left open at the collar.
The pair later parted ways and Mako was seen running errands, which included stopping at a pharmacy, a bakery and a market in Hell's Kitchen.
The rare sighting of the pair comes weeks after news that Komuro failed the New York State bar exam for the second time. He took the exam in February, but when the results were made public, his name wasn't on the list of people who passed.
Komuro, who graduated from Fordham Law School in 2021, also failed last year's bar exam, and will reportedly be taking it for a third time next month. He's been clerking in the Lowenstein Sandler law firm’s Manhattan office while he studies for the bar.
Mako, meanwhile, has reportedly been making use of her background in art history by working as a volunteer at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Mako and Komuro (both 30) are reportedly renting a one-bedroom apartment, which is said to cost at least $4 800 (R73 086) a month. They're believed to be financially independent.
Mako, the daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko and niece of reigning Emperor Naruhito, famously relinquished her royal status and turned down 140 million yen (R18,7 million) to leave the imperial family and follow her heart.
Under Japanese law, female imperial family members forfeit their status upon marriage to a "commoner" although male members do not.
She and Komuro got engaged in 2017 after meeting at Tokyo’s International Christian University, where they were both students, and planned to tie the knot in November 2018 but postponed the wedding because they said it felt rushed.
After years of criticism about their relationship, Mako married her long-time boyfriend in a register office in Tokyo in October last year.
“For me, Kei-san is a priceless person,” Mako said at a press conference held shortly after the ceremony.
“For us, our marriage was a necessary choice to live while cherishing our hearts.”
SOURCES: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK, TOWNANDCOUNTRYMAG.COM, BBC.COM
