Prince Akishino, Princess Kiko Frown on Engagement Ceremony

August 8, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko have expressed reluctance to hold the "Nosai no Gi" official engagement ceremony for their first child, Princess Mako, and her fiance, Kei Komuro, informed sources said Wednesday.

The couple are believed to have told Komuro at a meeting at their residence that holding the ceremony under the current situation would be difficult, apparently alluding to weekly magazine reports since late last year on money problems involving his mother, according to the sources.

An official of the Imperial Household Agency said that the agency does not know anything about the matter.

Princess Mako, 26, the eldest grandchild of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and Komuro, also 26, a former university classmate of the princess, held a press conference on their informal engagement in September last year.

They were initially scheduled to hold the Nosai no Gi ceremony in March this year and a wedding in November.

In February, however, Princess Mako and Komuro postponed the engagement ceremony until 2020 due to insufficient time for necessary preparations.

Komuro left Japan on Tuesday to study at Fordham University's law school in New York for three years. Jiji Press