ReportWire

Tag: princess mako

  • Princess Kako Celebrates Her 28th Birthday—And Her Expanded Royal Role

    Princess Kako Celebrates Her 28th Birthday—And Her Expanded Royal Role

    [ad_1]

    On December 29, Japan’s Princess Kako celebrated her 28th birthday, and to mark the end of the year during which the princess expanded her royal role, the Imperial Household released a new set of portraits taken on the grounds of the Akasaka imperial residence in Tokyo. Kako was thrust further into the spotlight after her older sister, Mako Komuro, married her college sweetheart, Kei Komuro, and moved to New York City in late 2021. Over the last year, Kako took on two of Mako’s former royal jobs when she became the honorary president of the Japan Tennis Association and the president of the Japan Kogei Association, which promotes traditional crafts.

    Content

    This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

    In a statement, the Imperial Household Agency said that Kako hopes to see society continue to evolve to allow more people to reach their full potential. “This hope appears to be strengthening as [the princess] experiences various things in life,” her attendants said, per the Kyodo News Agency. As coronavirus restrictions lifted in the country over 2022, Kako attended more royal engagements, including her annual contribution to a sign language competition, a visit to a sustainability award ceremony, and a trip to an urban greenery festival in Hokkaido. 

    Kako is the niece of Emperor Naruhito, the country’s current emperor, and the older brother of Prince Hisahito, the 16-year-old future emperor. As a teenager, Kako competed as a junior figure skater, and she also works part time with the Japanese Federation for the Deaf. She has also taken on a formal diplomatic role, meeting with Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen on an official trip in September 2019.

    The news comes as the imperial family is weighing new strategies to communicate with the public. Currently, the royal family only has a simple website where they share press releases, event information, and photographs, but according to the Japan Times, the Household announced that they are planning to hire an official public relations staff beginning in April and are considering starting accounts on social media. One factor contributing to the decision is the public controversy that Mako and Kei’s marriage prompted in the tabloid press, specifically related to his family financial situation. When the couple married, Mako said that the press intrusion had caused her emotional distress.

    Japanese law has strict expectations for women in the imperial family, and if Kako choses to get married, she will likely have to leave behind her royal title. On the occasion of her 56th birthday in September, Kako’s mother, Crown Princess Kiko, said that she planned to talk to Kako about her future and her possible future marriage, adding “I hope that she will be fulfilling her duties while accumulating experience.”

    Listen to Vanity Fair’s DYNASTY podcast now.

    Content

    This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

    [ad_2]

    Erin Vanderhoof

    Source link

  • Kei Komuro, husband of Japan’s Princess Mako, passes New York bar on third try | CNN

    Kei Komuro, husband of Japan’s Princess Mako, passes New York bar on third try | CNN

    [ad_1]



    Reuters
     — 

    The third time’s the charm in the New York bar exam for Kei Komuro, a law clerk at law firm Lowenstein Sandler and the husband of Japan’s Princess Mako.

    Komuro’s name appeared on the list of those who passed New York’s July bar exam released October 20, after the Japanese press zeroed in on his failure to pass the July 2021 and February 2022 attorney licensing tests.

    He beat the odds as a repeat bar-taker – just 23% of the more than 1,600 people who took the July exam after failing at least once passed, according to statistics from the New York Board of Law Examiners. The pass rate for those taking the exam for the first time in July was 75%.

    Komuro has been an object of fascination and scrutiny in his native Japan for years, partly due to his status as a commoner. Princess Mako, the niece of Emperor Naruhito, who is now known as Mako Komuro, is no longer a member of the imperial family following the couple’s October 2021 marriage.

    Komuro graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Fordham University School of Law in May 2021 and has been working as a law clerk in Lowenstein Sandler’s New York headquarters for the past year – a designation firms typically bestow on new hires who have not yet passed the bar exam.

    His success in the latest bar exam clears the way for him to be elevated to associate at Lowenstein, though the firm did not respond to requests Monday for clarification on his current status. Komuro, who works in the firm’s corporate and technology groups, also did not respond to requests for comment.

    With more than 300 attorneys, Lowenstein Sandler is the 140th-largest law firm in the country and ranked 103rd in US law firm revenue with $392 million in 2021, according to the American Lawyer.

    Bar exam tutors say the test is especially difficult for non-native English speakers. The pass rate for foreign-educated lawyers, or LL.M.s, was 44% in July. Komuro began his US legal studies in Fordham’s LL.M. program in 2017 before transferring over to its J.D. program. The first-time bar exam pass rate among Fordham’s 2021 J.D.s was 94%.

    July’s bar exam passers are scheduled to be officially admitted into the New York bar on January 11.

    [ad_2]

    Source link