The Princess & The Commoner: How A Royal Wedding Divided Japan

This week, an unusually modest wedding brought an end to four years of torment for Princess Mako of Japan and her 'commoner' husband Kei Komuro, as the newlyweds plan to quietly leave their home country for a new life in the United States. The usual pomp and ceremony of an Imperial wedding was nowhere to be seen, as public disapproval of the union has left Mako with PTSD, after conservatives hounded the couple because they felt her groom simply wasn't good enough to join the Royal family. To find out why this marriage has been so controversial, and what it tells us about the state of gender equality in Japan, The Quicky speaks to an expert in Japanese culture and history as we consider why the couple have been dubbed 'the new Harry and Meghan'. CREDITS  Host/Producer: Claire Murphy Executive Producer: Siobhán Moran-McFarlane Audio Producer: Ian Camilleri Guest: Dr Thomas Baudinette - Cultural Anthropologist and Senior Lecturer in International Studies with a special focus on Japan at Macquarie University. Subscribe to The Quicky at... https://mamamia.com.au/the-quicky/ CONTACT US Got a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us an email at [email protected] Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.