
Japan's favourite ex-princess, Mako Komuro, has given birth to her first child, says Imperial Household Agency
Mako Komuro, Crown Prince Fumihito's eldest daughter, with her now-husband Kei Komuro at a press conference to announce their engagement in Tokyo in 2017. - PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO (Japan News/ANN): Mako Komuro, Crown Prince Fumihito's eldest daughter who married out of the imperial family, gave birth to her first child, the Imperial Household Agency said on Friday (May 30).
According to the agency, the former princess' parents are delighted at the birth of their first grandchild and are wishing for the happiness of their 33-year-old daughter and her family.
Naomasa Yoshida, the top aide to the crown prince's family, said in a press conference in the city that the family is 'delighted and wishes days of happiness' for the former princess' family.
The former princess, a big favourite with the Japanese people, married her university sweetheart, Kei Komuro in October 2021 and has since moved to New York, where her husband works as a lawyer.
After marrying outside the imperial family in October 2021, she gave up her title as required by the Imperial Household Law. -- JAPAN NEWS/Asian News Network

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
Man jumps into display of China's Terracotta Army: officials
China's famous terracotta warriors pictured in the northern Chinese city of X'ian. Photo: AFP A domestic tourist climbed over a fence and jumped into a section of the world-famous display of China's Terracotta Army, damaging two ancient clay warriors, authorities said on Saturday. The 30-year-old was visiting the museum housing the Terracotta Army in the city of Xi'an on Friday when he "climbed over the guardrail and the protective net and jumped", public security officials said in a statement. The man surnamed Sun was found to "suffer from mental illness" and the case is under investigation. He "pushed and pulled" the clay warriors and two were "damaged to varying degrees", the statement said. He was "controlled" by security personnel. The pit he jumped into is up to 5.4m (18 feet) deep, according to the museum's website. Built around 209 BC to stand guard over the tomb of the first emperor, the 8,000-strong Terracotta Army is one of China's most important archaeological discoveries and considered a symbol of ancient Chinese artistic and military sophistication. A major tourist attraction in Xi'an, capital of the northern province of Shaanxi, it has been a Unesco world heritage site since 1987. A worker at the museum told AFP on Saturday that the display was open as usual. - AFP


The Star
18 hours ago
- The Star
New lighthouse artwork by Banksy discovered in Marseille: 'We love it'
This photograph shows a newly released artwork by street artist Banksy on the facade of a building in Marseille, southeastern France, on May 30, 2025. (Photo by Viken KANTARCI / AFP) A new mural depicting a lighthouse by world-famous street artist Banksy has appeared on a wall in the southern French city of Marseille, with AFP confirming its location on Friday. The anonymous artist known as Banksy revealed the new work on Instagram on Thursday but its location had not been disclosed. The words "I want to be what you saw in me" are stencilled in English across the black lighthouse set against a beige stucco wall. The mural is on quiet street near the Catalans beach not far from the city centre, according to an AFP correspondent. The lighthouse's painted shadow connects to one of the street bollards lining the sidewalk. A pedestrian takes a photograph of a newly released artwork by street artist Banksy on the facade of a building in Marseille, southeastern France, on May 30, 2025. — Photo: Viken KANTARCI/AFP Banksy – whose identity has not been publicly revealed – has crossed the globe for decades painting clandestine murals in public spaces, including in the occupied West Bank, London and Los Angeles. "It's fascinating that Banksy chose a city like Marseille, which has so much art, foreigners and life," said Esteban Roldan, a 42-year-old carpenter who came to see the artwork. "This is huge, Banksy in Marseille," added another local, Virginie Foucault. She said she was having lunch nearby. "I thought to myself, 'I'm not going to find it in Les Catalans,' and then, by chance – I never go there – there it is. We love it, we love it!" For Susan McAllister, a 60-year-old British teacher, "It was nice to have a little search to discover where it was. I'm happy I found it." "It's exciting, I'm happy he is exploring different places in different cities to display his art or her art," she said. "It might be a woman." Banksy is best known for hard-hitting murals, often using a distinctive stencilling style, that frequently pop up on buildings and walls. In recent years, he has kept the attention of the contemporary art world with his social commentaries and causes – migrants, opposition to Brexit, denunciation of Islamist radicals – while still stirring the excitement of the moneyed art markets. The artist boasts an A-list client lineup and has sold his works for tens of millions of pounds at auction since the early 2000s. – AFP


New Straits Times
19 hours ago
- New Straits Times
'M*A*S*H' actress Loretta Swit dead: Publicist
NEW YORK: Loretta Swit, the US actress who brought Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan to life in the seminal Korean War comedy series "M*A*S*H" has died. She was 87. Swit who played the high-strung but flirty Houlihan for the entire TV run of the smash series, was nominated for 10 Emmy awards for her work, winning two of them. Her death, at her home in Manhattan, was announced by her publicist, US media reported. AFP has sought confirmation. "M*A*S*H," which sprang from an Oscar-winning 1970 film, aired initially in 1972 and was a hit until it finished in 1983. The comedy was set in a mobile hospital for the US Army during the Korean War, and starred Alan Alda as Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce. The series tackled a range of issues from the tragic to the light-hearted, and was sometimes seen as a satire on US involvement in Vietnam – a war that was still happening when it first began airing.--AFP