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| Japan's Princess Nori smiles after attending a
student speech contest in Tokyo, November 14, 2004. Princess Sayako,
the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, plans to
marry a 39-year-old Tokyo metropolitan government official named
Yoshiki Kuroda early next year, media reports said on Sunday.
(Reuters) |
Japan's Princess Sayako, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and
Empress Michiko, will announce her intentions to marry a 39-year-old city
government official in the coming weeks, an official said Sunday.
Sayako, 35, also known by her royal title Norinomiya, and her
husband-to-be, Yoshiki Kuroda, have already received the blessings of the
emperor and empress, public broadcaster NHK TV said Sunday. The national
Asahi newspaper carried a similar report.
The Imperial Household Agency said the couple, who were classmates at
Tokyo's elite Gakushuin University, were initially to be engaged earlier
this month. But they delayed the announcement out of respect for victims
of last month's powerful earthquake in northern Japan and typhoons across
the country earlier this year, an agency official, Shingo Haketa, told
reporters.
Another agency official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition
of anonymity, said no formal announcement is likely to be made until at
least late December. He criticized the Japanese media for prematurely reporting the
engagement.
Kuroda, a former banker who joined the Tokyo government in 1997,
appeared before TV cameras but refused to comment.
Under the Imperial Household Law, Sayako will become a commoner once she is married. She
has two brothers, Crown Prince Naruhito, 44, and Prince Akishino, 38.
The last time a member of Japan's royal family became a commoner
through marriage was the emperor's cousin, Princess Masako, in 1983.
Sayako is an ornithologist
at a research institute in Chiba, near Tokyo, where she has conducted
research on kingfishers and bird flu strains. Reports said she and Kuroda
have known each other since they were children.
(Agencies) |
Updated: 2004-11-15 10:11