Former Princess Mako’s “ordinary” husband Kay Komuro showed a new queue when he was seen leaving his second attempt at the New York State Bar Exam – after failing his first attempt just months before his partner sensationally left the Japanese royal family. to start a new life with him in the United States.
Mako, 30, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and niece of the ruling Emperor Naruhito, relinquished her royal title to marry “ordinary” Komuro last October in a small civil ceremony.
The couple, who were engaged for eight years before getting married, have since moved into a one-bedroom apartment in New York City, where Komuro works for New Jersey-based Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
Komuro first took the New York Bar Exam last summer, months before his marriage to Mako, but it was revealed in November that he had failed; Tuesday’s test marked his second attempt at qualifying.
However, if Komuro felt more confident in his performance during his last exam, he certainly didn’t show it when he left the testing center; the novice lawyer looked incredibly gloomy as he stood outside and called Uber as he showed off his long locks, which were tied in a short tail.
The long style is a remarkable change from the neatly cut hairstyle that Komuro wore during his wedding to Mako four months ago – and he also seems to have adopted a much more casual wardrobe after moving to Manhattan.
Former Princess Mako’s “ordinary” husband Kay Komuro, 30, has been spotted waiting for Uber in front of a test center after taking his New York State Bar Exam for the second time this afternoon.
The lawyer was spotted on Tuesday calling Uber outside a test center after the exam – which he appeared for the first time last summer, but failed
Komuro has been seen wearing much longer locks than in the past, with the lawyer pulling his long hair into a ponytail.
Instead of an elegant suit and tie, Komuro wore a dark green Tommy Hilfiger jacket, which he wore with a denim shirt, faded navy blue pants, and a pair of colorful Vans sneakers.
He also carried a black-and-white bag over his shoulder and a white face mask as he left the testing center.
Komuro’s last attempt to pass a bar exam came less than a year after he first took the test in July 2021, when he had the opportunity to take the test remotely. This time there was no remote option for the candidates.
As he did last year, Komuro will now face a torturous wait of several months before finding out whether his second attempt at an exam was successful or not; Candidates who take the test in February usually receive their results only in April, which means that Komuro will not know whether it has passed or failed for two months.
The results of the July 2021 exam were published on the website of the U.S. Board of State Examiners last November. Komuro’s name was not among the successful candidates.
According to the Japanese TV operator NHKKomuro called lawyer Okuno Yoshihiko, the head of a company in Japan where he had worked before, to tell him he had failed the exam.
If he fails again, Komuro will have to wait until July this year to retake the exam, which is only offered twice a year, but he can take the test as many times as he wants until he passes, because New York State does not impose a limit on the number of attempts the candidate may make.
Former Princess Mako married Komuro in October 2018, eight years after the couple got engaged
The lawyer has adopted a much more casual look since moving to New York, and he is growing his hair away from the haircut style he had at his wedding (right).
Komuro and the first moved into a one-bedroom apartment in New York, where Komuro works as a lawyer for the New Jersey-based company Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Komuro will not know if he passed his second attempt at the bar exam by April; if he fails, he will have to wait until July before he gets another chance to take it again
Komuro was raised by his widowed mother, Cayo. His father died when he was still in elementary school. His work in Japan included working in a bank and a French restaurant.
He met Mako in 2013, when they were both studying at the International Christian University outside Tokyo.
The couple, both now 30, got engaged “unofficially” in 2017 and planned to get married in November 2018.
The news was initially greeted with delight in Japan, but then a scandal erupted when it was revealed that Kayo had not repaid a loan of 4 million yen ($ 35,000) from an ex-fiancé, in part to pay for her son’s education.
This has led critics to speculate that Komuro married the princess for money or fame.
Komuro issued a 24-page explanation of the money – claiming it was a gift, not a loan. In the end, he said he would return it, although it is not known if the money was returned.
But despite the turmoil, Kay and Mako’s love endured. In 2020, the former princess asked the Japanese public to support her decision.
“We are indispensable for each other – someone to rely on in both happy and unhappy moments,” she said, announcing that the wedding would continue.
Komuro was seen leaving the building with several other candidates after completing the first day of the two-day exam.
After leaving the test center, Komuro made his way to Uber, which may have taken him back to the Hells Kitchen apartment he shares with his wife.
Mako and Komuro (pictured in November) moved to New York just a few weeks after they got married, and they have since adjusted to their new lives as “commoners.”
“So marriage is a necessary choice to live while valuing and protecting our feelings.”
Komuro has not lived in Japan for three years – moving to New York shortly after their marriage was postponed for the first time.
He studied law at Fordham University in the Bronx and then worked as a clerk at Lowenstein Sandler in Manhattan, advising companies and investors on venture capital financing, mergers and acquisitions.
Only members of the Japanese imperial family are allowed to marry “commoners”, so Mako’s decision to marry for love means a lot of new things to her.
For a start, she is no longer considered a princess – even if the marriage ends in divorce, she can never return to the family.
For the first time in her life, she has a family name and will be known as Mako Komuro.
She will also have to apply for a passport – royals do not need it – to be able to move to the United States.
She can no longer live in the imperial palace. And all the sons the couple has will not be in the line of inheritance of imperial power only for men.
And this is a potential problem in Japan, where there are now only three people allowed by the Imperial Household Act to succeed 61-year-old Emperor Naruhito – and one of them, his uncle Masohito, is 85 years old.
The other two are Nauruhito’s 55-year-old brother, Akishino, Mako’s father, and Mako’s brother, Hisahito, 15.
The Ordinary Who Courts a Princess: How Kay Komuro Overcame the Scandal to Marry Mako
Komuro was raised by a single mother, with some media outlets reporting that part of his education was funded by his mother’s ex-fiancé.
At one point, he made money working to promote tourism near Tokyo.
Problems erupted months after he and Mako announced their engagement in 2017, when tabloids reported a financial dispute between Komuro’s mother and her ex-boyfriend, with the man claiming that the mother and son had failed to pay about $ 35,000 in debt. .
Komuro later said the money was a gift, not a loan. But in 2021, he presented a 24-page explanation and later announced that he would pay a settlement.
In September 2018, he went to study at Fordham University in New York and did not return until September this year, after graduating from law school and starting work at a New York law firm.
When he returned to Japan, he was dressed casually and with long hair pulled back in a ponytail, causing media outrage because he was considered “disrespectful.”
But on Tuesday morning, trimmed with a ponytail and dressed in a fresh dark suit and tie, he set out to pick up his bride. Most of his face was covered in a mask according to the Japanese coronavirus protocol, but he looked happy.