After weeks of media attention, Japan’s Princess Mako has married her commoner college sweetheart, Kei Komuro, thus giving up her Imperial status.
The wedding took place yesterday with a simple registry of marriage before the couple are expected to move to the US, where Komuro works as a lawyer.
While the act of giving up the crown to marry your true love sounds like a fairytale story the public would get behind, the marriage has instead been met with great scrutiny.
This morning, Dr Tom Baudinette, an expert in Japanese culture and senior lecturer at Macquarie University, joined The Briefing podcast to explain why the wedding has divided the people of Japan.
Take a listen: