Japanese Princess Ayako of Takamado to Get Engaged

June 26, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Princess Ayako of Takamado will get engaged to a man working at major shipping firm Nippon Yusen K.K., the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday.

The agency plans to formally announce the engagement of Princess Ayako, 27, and Kei Moriya, 32, on the morning of next Monday. Princess Ayako and Moriya are expected to hold a press conference on the afternoon of the day.

"Nosai no Gi," an engagement ceremony, will be held on Aug. 12 at the residence of the Takamado family, located within the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo's Minato Ward.

Their wedding ceremony is slated to take place on Oct. 29 at Meiji Jingu, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.

Princess Ayako has already reported her plan to become engaged to Moriya to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

Following the marriage, Princess Ayako will lose her status as a member of the Imperial Family. Article 12 of the Imperial House Law stipulates that a woman in the Imperial Family shall lose her status of the family if she marries a person outside the family.

Princess Ayako was born on Sept. 15, 1990, as the third daughter of the late Prince Takamado, a cousin of Emperor Akihito, and Princess Hisako.

After graduating from Gakushuin Girls' Senior High School and then the Faculty of Social Work Studies of Josai International University, the princess received a master's degree in social work from the university's Graduate School of Social Work Studies in 2016.

She also studied in British Columbia, Canada, in 2013-2015.

While performing her duties as a member of the Imperial Family, the princess has been working as a fellow researcher at Josai International University's Faculty of Social Work Studies since June 2017.

Princess Ayako serves as honorary patron of the Canada-Japan Society and honorary president of the Japan Sea Cadet Federation.

When Princess Ayako turned 20 in 2010, she said in a written response to questions from reporters: "I like children, so I want to marry someone someday and have my own children. I hope to create a warm family filled with laughter with a person I respect."

Noriko Senge, 29, formerly Princess Noriko, the second daughter of Prince Takamado and Princess Hisako, married Kunimaro Senge, 44, a priest at Izumo Taisha, a Shinto shrine in the city of Izumo in Shimane Prefecture, western Japan, in October 2014.

Princess Ayako will be the first female Imperial Family member to marry since then.

According to officials of the Imperial Household Agency, Princess Ayako and Moriya first met in December last year and then started a dating relation.

Princess Hisako, who is acquainted with the Moriya family, introduced Moriya to her daughter after learning last November that he would become a director of Children without Borders, a Japanese nonprofit organization working to support underprivileged children and youths in the world, in light of the fact that the princess is studying social welfare, the officials said.

Moriya is the eldest son of Osamu Moriya, 62, a former Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry bureaucrat and currently a senior official at Tokyo-based Japan Alcohol Trading Co., and his wife, Kimie, who died in 2015.

After graduating from Keio University, Moriya started working at Nippon Yusen in 2009. Jiji Press