I think it is a very sweet story! I pray they make it!
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Wearing a simple white dress and pearls, Japan's Princess Sayako bid farewell to palace life Tuesday to wed a Tokyo city employee in a low-key ceremony marking the first time that an emperor's daughter has married a commoner.
Thousands of well-wishers cheered as an official black car slowly drove Sayako, 36, out of the gates of the palace to the elegant Imperial Hotel, where she married Yoshiki Kuroda in a wedding that was austere by royal standards.
Under Japanese law, Sayako, the daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, lost her royal status by marrying, and will now live the life of a taxpaying commoner, without her generous palace allowance.
To prepare for the dramatic shift to commoner status, Sayako has taken driving lessons and practiced shopping at supermarkets; the couple has studied catalogs to choose furniture and appliances for their new home.
The two are childhood acquaintances, but their romance began two years ago at a tennis party thrown by Prince Akishino, one of Sayako's brothers.
The postnuptials also were to be low key, the Imperial Household Agency has said. After the reception, the newlyweds were to dine at the hotel and go straight to their new home.
Palace officials registered the marriage at a government office on their behalf during the wedding, officially making the princess Sayako Kuroda, the agency said. The Shinto-style ritual, performed by the chief priest of Ise Shrine in central Japan, considered the nation's most sacred shrine, was attended by 31 people, including the emperor and the empress, it said.
The wedding drew intense national attention, with Cabinet ministers and lawmakers congratulating the couple.
"As an ordinary citizen, I express my heartfelt congratulations," said Gender Equality Minister Kuniko Inoguchi.
The wedding took place as the government is considering changing the 1947 law that forbids women from ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne. The same law requires female royals to leave the palace upon marriage.
Japan's royal family has not had a male baby since the 1960s, and there is no direct male heir to the throne. Sayako's brother, Crown Prince Naruhito, and his wife, Princess Masako, have one child, a 3-year-old daughter, Aiko.
If the law is changed soon, Sayako would be the last female royal to give up her palace rights upon marriage.
With opinion polls showing firm, widespread support for letting women reign, Japan is now on the verge of reverting back to the pre-1947 system that allowed eight women to assume the throne over the past 1,500 years.
A high-powered government commission recently wrote a report recommending consideration of allowing women back on the throne, and bills to make the change could be sent to Parliament for approval as early as next year.
