- Former Japanese princess Mako Komuro has taken on an unpaid role at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Komuro is not on the Met’s payroll but is involved in an exhibition of Japanese scroll paintings.
- She moved to New York in November 2021 after shedding her titles to marry law clerk Kei Komuro.
Former Japanese Princess Mako Komuro is doing volunteer work at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art less than six months after moving to the city.
According to The Japan Times, Mako is working on one of the Met’s exhibitions of Japanese scroll paintings about Ippen, a famed traveling monk who wandered across Japan during the Kamakura Period.
Citing a source familiar with Mako’s employment, the outlet reported that she was not on the museum’s payroll.
Mako, for one, is familiar with art and curation, having attended Tokyo’s international Christian university, where she obtained a degree in art and cultural heritage. In 2016, the former princess also received a master’s degree in art museum and gallery studies from the University of Leicester.
She then went on to work as a special researcher at the University Museum at the University of Tokyo, while juggling her royal duties.
Mako — the daughter of Japanese Crown Prince Fumihito — made headlines last year when she shed all her titles to marry her college sweetheart, commoner Kei Komuro. She endured years of public and media scrutiny following her engagement in 2017, especially after a royal scandal emerged over financial disputes that involved Kei Komuro’s mother
In September, Mako announced that she would turn down the $1.3 million dollar payout that she was entitled to upon getting married to Komuro. The couple married on October 26, and left for New York two weeks later to start a new life together.
The former princess and her husband have since been spotted out and about around New York.
Meanwhile, Kei Komuro was seen at the exam hall for the New York state bar exam in February, his second attempt at attaining the qualification.