Japan is the only country in the world known to have a law forcing married couples to share a surname - a provision that is more than a hundred years old. Although Japanese laws do not stipulate which partner must change their surname to match the other, about 95% of married couples in Japan currently have the woman adopting her husband’s surname. (Japanese marrying foreigners in Japan are able to keep their Japanese family names.)

In July 2021, the Supreme Court in Japan ruled against three couples’ appeal to legally marry while keeping their separate surnames, refuting the claim that prohibiting separate surnames for spouses is unconstitutional. The couples had first brought their requests to keep separate surnames to court in 2019, and appealed to the Supreme Court after their requests were dismissed in the Tokyo Family Court and Tokyo High Court.

Our resident news anchor explains the policy of spouses sharing a surname in Japan, and the difficulties associated with it:

- Summary 夫婦別姓問題

- Japan’s system on sharing a surname after marriage 現在の日本の制度

- The disadvantages of changing one’s surname after marriage 夫婦同性のデメリット

- Why it is hard to push through a policy for separate surnames for spouses in Japan なぜ夫婦別姓にならない？

- Conclusionまとめ

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