Princess Mako turns 20
TOKYO —
Princess Mako, the first daughter of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, and granddaughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, celebrated her 20th birthday on Sunday.
The princess attended rites at the Imperial Palace to mark her coming-of-age and met the emperor who bestowed upon her the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown, NHK said.
Mako, who is a student at International Christian University in Tokyo, will now start taking part in official duties as the 19th adult member of the imperial family.
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25 Comments
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4
Christina O'Neill
Happy birthday, all the best for your future as an adult
-7
NetNinja
That dress makes her look fat. Where are the curves?
-7
tokyokawasaki
Maybe she should stick to eating cake only on her birthday.
6
Maria
That is not a flattering look for her, and she knows it, poor thing has an expression on her like she's wearing rotten fish.
2
Nessie
Would it be fair to say you're suggesting a Makover?
5
cleo
Straight out of Gormenghast.
20-year-olds in 21st-century Japan do not dress like that. Poor kid, she looks like she's hating every cringing second she has to stand there in that awful get-up. And to have to have her photo taken for posterity dressed like that - fashion insult added to time-slip injury.
The Kunaicho dress designers need to be pensioned off and a bit of young blood brought in.
4
Okinawamike
Come on, lighten up, it's from the closet of Empress Michiko. She wore it when she turned 20 in 1954.
4
sunhawk
why the european dress? she should be in a ridiculously expensive kimono that weighs as much as she does. it is just not a good look on her.
-2
oberst
too bad she doesn't look like a " talent ", can't have everything I suppose.
-2
CrazyJoe
She looks very nice with the robe decolletee.
2
presto345
The choice of dress is inappropriate. She should wear kimono - and it does not have to be ridiculously expensive.
2
aspergillus
she would've looked much better in a kimono.
1
Arthur Dumbolov
1 year younger than me, but looks years older. Oh that acceleration...
0
Elbuda Mexicano
I bet if she had worn a KIMONO some people here would say something like WAIT, why is she wearing something so old fashioned, she should have worn a western, European style dress, etc..right?? Just my guess, but i think she looks real pretty in that dress, bet my little 3 year old would love, but it has to be PINK!
1
Elbuda Mexicano
Maria! An expression of wearing rotten fish?? Never worn fish, let alone rotten fish but just sounds real smelly, maybe my computer screen is not so good but I can not even tell what kind of expression the young lady has, maybe it is of wearing rotten fish?? LOL!!
2
John Becker
Isn't that what everybody gets for their 20th birthday? Sheesh...
Kudos for taking one for the team and wearing this Showa-era costume and not looking too disgusted by it. Like many above, I agree that she should have been wearing a kimono. If not, the person who made her wear this thing should have taken a lesson from the Middletons, who understand that one can look elegant without looking stuck in the 1950s.
1
Ed O Jidai
I wonder if she commutes to university by limousine or if she slogs away on the trains every day.
Until her brother, Prince Hisahito, was born there was talk about:
There was a chance at one time that she could have been the first female Empress since 1813: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Go-Sakuramachi. Is that look on her face something like: "I could have been a contender"?
It looks like she is smiling in a subtle, somewhat bemused way but I can't read her eyes. The photo makes it look like she has ronpa eyes (one eye on London and the other on Paris) because there is no white showing on the inside of her left eye.
Her choice of university might indicate that she has a bit of an independent streak.
So, she has experienced that deep tunnel of cherry trees in bloom along what once was the runway for Nakajima Hayabusa fighter planes; seen the apricot trees blooming on Bakayama; strolled around Taizanso; and passed by that infernal racket emerging from practicing musicians in the student activity building (if that still occurs).
Best wishes.
-1
cleo
Once she marries she's a commoner; more likely she's thinking, 'Why do I have to dress up in something a three-year-old would look better in, when my mates are out having fun on their birthdays?'
0
Raju Paudel
Happy birth day princess
0
alpachinco
enough of the manner lessons, girl you need to party. that shell your royal roots have built for you does nothing for you. are you are real person, or a product of what is expected of the royals in japan? such an influential position for youth in japan yet not a single peep out of the princess to help out at a time when youths need it most.
0
tmtmsnb
Any of NHK taiga-drama kimonos would have fared better. Only problem: what to do with the crown. (not that I have knowledge of their dress code). Kunaicho should make up its mind: Pure Japan or Pure Western (do they have the nerve to dress her up Princess Diana fashion?).
-1
techall
Damn, I thought this she was still in Junior high or something. How time slips away!
-1
techall
Looks like she could stand to back off from the sushi bar a little more.
0
tugamen
Poor thing she has the - help, get me out of here look.
Still Happy Birthday
0
PearlsGrace
Princess Mako does not seem to be very girly, but she has a pretty face.
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