Sayako Kuroda

Infobox_Person | name = Sayako Kuroda
other_names = formerly "Sayako, Princess Nori"

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caption = Kuroda at Expo 2005
birth_date = birth date and age|1969|4|18
birth_place = Tokyo, Japan
title =
spouse = Yoshiki Kuroda
children =
relations = Akihito and Michiko

Sayako Kuroda (Japanese: 黒田清子, "Kuroda Sayako") (born 18 April 1969), formerly Princess Nori (Sayako) of Japan (紀宮清子内親王殿下, "Nori-no-miya Sayako naishinnō denka"), is the third child and only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. She married Yoshiki Kuroda on 15 November 2005. As a result, she gave up her royal title and left the Japanese Imperial Family, as required by law.

Education

Princess Nori studied at and graduated from the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters, Gakushuin University, in 1992. Later in the year she was accepted as research associate at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. In 1998, she was appointed researcher at the same institute. She contributed articles about birds to various academic works.

Apart from her research, she has traveled extensively abroad and within Japan, as a representative of the Imperial family.

Engagement and marriage

On 30 December 2004, the Imperial Household Agency announced the engagement of Princess Nori to Yoshiki Kuroda, a 40-year-old urban designer with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and a longtime friend of Prince Akishino. Upon her marriage, which took place at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on 15 November 2005, Princess Nori left the Imperial Family, taking the surname of her husband, the first commoner of non-aristocratic background to marry an Imperial Princess. These changes in her status are demanded by a 1947 law that requires female members of the Imperial Family to relinquish their birth position, official membership in the Imperial Family, and allowance upon their marriage. Her parents, the Emperor and Empress, were in attendance at the wedding, as were Crown Prince Naruhito, Crown Princess Masako and other members of the Imperial Family. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=368709&in_page_id=1811 "Japanese princess weds commoner"] , "Daily Mail" (London). November 15, 2005.]

Kuroda resigned from her job as an ornithologist in order to focus on her family life and potential motherhood. While she will no longer be entitled to a royal allowance, she reportedly received a dowry of over one million dollars.

References

External links

* [http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e03/ed03-05.html Kunaicho] — Her Imperial Highness Princess Sayako
* [http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/esayako/esayako-2005-1.html Kunaicho] — Responses to Questions on the Occasion of the Birthday of Her Imperial Highness Princess Sayako (2005)
* [http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2005/11/15/princessayakowedding/ Hello! magazine ] — Article on Sayako and Yoshiki Kuroda's wedding
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4437386.stm BBC News] — The wedding takes place
* [http://living.scotsman.com/people.cfm?id=1339232006 The princess and the people] - "The Scotsman"