About

"As Long as She is Happy, It's OK." (Japanese: 幸せならOKです, Shiawase nara OKay desu), is a catchphrase coined by an enthusiast of Japan's princess Mako of Akishino.^[1] In a similar vein to Special Feeling and Hanami Trace, the man's remark and thumbs-up on a street during an interview became popular subjects for online parodies on Twitter illustrators communities in May of 2017.

Origin

On May 16th, 2017, news media started reporting Princess Mako was expected to marry with a commoner Kei Komuro next year.^[2] On that day, Japanese prime time news show Houdou Station (報道ステーション)^[3] aired a street interview for the princess's engagement, which was recorded in Shibuya, Tokyo about 9 PM. In the footage, a twenty-something man whose name was unknown told his honest feeling.

Translation:

Really?
I had put Mako-sama's picture to my phone wallpaper when I was a test taker.
I'm really shocked!!
But, as long as she's happy… It's OK!

As the English loanword "Okay" is usually used in pure positive meaning in the Japanese language, his remark in this context has a meaning of "That would be great" or "If she is happy now, I'm happy too" more than just "I'm fine".

Spread

Shortly after the airing, his pleasant attitude, beaming smile and thumbs-up caught much attention among viewers. They started dubbing the man who could sincerely celebrate his beloved one's happiness as "Nice guy" and "The paragon of fans" (ファンの鑑), and turned his phrase into a catchphrase, which was soon submitted to online glossaries Pixiv^[4] and NicoNicoPedia.^[5] Amateur illustrators inspired by him began posting parody illustrations tagged under the catchphrase to Twitter^[6], Pixiv^[7] and Nico Nico Seiga.^[8] Examples include a post by @lycorisradiata2 that gained over 2,600 retweets and 3,400 likes (shown below, left) and another by @Nanorijou that gained over 100 retweets and 200 likes (shown below, right).

On May 22nd, 2017 Japanese online news media J-Town published an interview with the man, identifying him as college student Shouei Nomura.^[9] He revealed that, when he was in the 3rd year in high school, he had been putting a Mako-sama's picture on his phone to motivate himself as he wanted to go to International Christianity University, where the princess had graduated. He continued that he's not as nice a guy normally as he appeared in the interview and the reason why he looked like so is he got that interview after drinking with his college club members. About online reactions and parodies, he told that he largely accepted it favorably while having slightly mixed feelings to photoshopped images with Yajuu Senpai.

In March of 2018, Mr. Nomura was again asked a comment by J-Cast News because Japan's Imperial Household Agency announced in the previous month that the princess' wedding will be postponed until 2020 due to lack of preparation,^[10] and answered "I think it's not a matter that we need to judge. I'm not in a position to say anything. But as long as she's happy, It's OK!."^[11]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References