Princess Sayako of Japan: The Princess Who Left Royalty for Love — and Received ¥152.5 Million to Do It

What Happened

Princess Sayako, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, made a choice in 2005 that fascinated Japan and the world. She fell in love with Yoshiki Kuroda, a mid-level Tokyo city government employee who had been a childhood friend. Under Japan’s Imperial Household Law, female members of the imperial family must leave the family if they marry a commoner. There is no exception.

On November 15, 2005, Sayako married Kuroda in a private ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. At the moment of marriage, she ceased to be a princess. She was stripped of her imperial title, removed from the Imperial Household Register, and became a private citizen named Sayako Kuroda. Her divine ancestry — the Japanese imperial family claims an unbroken line from the sun goddess Amaterasu — was, in legal terms, severed.

The Imperial Household Agency provided Sayako with a one-time settlement of ¥152.5 million (approximately $1.3 million at the time). This was not a divorce settlement but rather a transition payment meant to help a woman who had lived her entire life within the imperial compound adjust to civilian life. She had never held a job, managed personal finances, or lived outside palace grounds.

Sayako adapted quietly to commoner life. She worked part-time at a museum and later at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, reflecting her father’s lifelong interest in marine biology. The case reignited debate about Japan’s imperial succession law, which only allows male succession and requires women to leave for marriage. When Princess Mako married commoner Kei Komuro in 2021, she declined the settlement entirely — the first imperial woman ever to do so.

Legal Breakdown: Royal Exit Settlements

What This Means for Your Divorce