Arama They Didn't

10:01 am - 02/17/2013

Should Married Couples Be Allowed to Keep Separate Surnames?

A recent government survey has shown that the number of people in support of a reform of the civil code to allow married couples to keep their own surnames has declined, with equal numbers of respondents now being in favour of the reforms and against them.

While in Korea and China it is standard practice for women to keep their surnames upon marriage, in Japan, the woman marries into and becomes part of her husband’s family. Traditionally, this meant that she would no longer visit her own family, since she had broken all links to them, changing her name in the family register and erasing her original surname from the register since only one family name can be recorded.

As more and more women have careers in which their names are an important part of their success, it is only natural that some may opt to keep their surnames while still wanting to marry their partners. With the law as it currently stands, this is not possible, however it is technically possible for a man to take his wife’s surname.

Translated below is a popular article on the issue from Yahoo! News, along with the most upvoted netizen comments accompanying the article. It seems that many netizens see the proposal as a negative one, with opinion being overwhelmingly against allowing couples to take separate names.

From Yahoo! Japan:

Cabinet Office Survey: Equal Numbers of People in Favour of and Against Married Couples Keeping Separate Surnames; Trend Shows Decline in Number of Those in Favour

On February 16, the Cabinet Office published the results of the ‘Public Opinion Survey On Family Legislation’ which was carried out in December 2012. Regarding the introduction of an elective system of keeping one’s surname upon marriage, according to the results 35.5% of respondents accepted this, saying ‘I don’t mind if the law is reformed’, and 36.4% were against it, saying ‘Legal reform is unnecessary’, making the results more or less balanced. Those in favour of the reform have decreased in both this survey and the previous survey in 2006, demonstrating that in the current situation, the introduction of the reforms is not gathering momentum

An elective system where spouses can chose to keep their surname rather than take a married name was included in an outline for proposed amendments to the Civil Code recommended by the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice in 1996. Following this, although both the LDP and the DPJ administrations had movements to investigate these reforms, opposition was deep-rooted, and the reforms never reached a stage whereby a bill could be submitted. In the survey held in 2001, 42.1% of respondents were in favour of the reforms, which was considerably more than the 29.9% of respondents who were against them; however, in the 2006 survey 36.6% accepted the reforms, and 35.0% were against them, making the results just about on a par with each other, and this time these results were reversed.

Among those who answered that they were in favour of a system where spouses could retain their own surnames, 23.5% of them said that they would want to keep their own surname, and 49.0% said that they would not.

Comments from Yahoo! Japan:


If a couple want to have different surnames, then that just means they don’t have to put them in the family registry.


If we have a system where a married couple can have separate names, then it would be the same is it is in China and Korea.


If this passes then Japanese people will cease to be Japanese. I’m completely against it!


Those who agree with this must be disgusting feminists and traitor bastards, right?


If you prefer to keep your own name then don’t get bloody married.


I’m against separate names. This is just going to end up in the destruction of Japan’s ancient family links. Rather than separate names, they should stop allowing foreigners resident in Japan to take legal aliases.


I want the abolition of legal aliases.North Koreans take Japanese names. They’re not even Japanese, but they take Japanese names. If you think about it, it’s strange, isn’t it?


All this means is that left-wing North Koreans will get rid of their family registers and try to erase their pasts. We absolutely cannot agree to these reforms.


If legal aliases are not abolished at the same time as the separate name law comes into effect, then it’s pointless!(`o´)


I don’t really understand the point of such a proposal being made in the first place. Does this mean that there are a lot of cases where couples have been troubled by not being able to have separate names?


It’s only zainichi North Koreans who are going to be happy to keep their own surnames. That’s precisely why the DPJ was moving ahead with it.


I’m completely against separate surnames.


The very idea is nonsense! I’m completely against it! Prime Minister Abe should also be against it.


It’s like it is in China and Korea. It seems like stuff like ‘gender free’ and so on just aims to destroy the system. There’s nothing in it for us Japanese.


Your surname is essentially the name of the family. When you become a married couple, you become a family. Therefore, I’m against separate surnames.


Separate surnames for couples will not suit Japanese culture. There is absolutely no need to go out of the way to change things.


I’m firmly against this law that will attempt to destroy Japanese family culture. The family ties of those in the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami are a beautiful traditional custom of the Japanese people, and is a very Japanese thing.


Why do people want separate surnames? I don’t get it. Does this mean that the assumption is that they’ll divorce? Dumb.


If you want separate surnames, how about not getting married?


I’m against this, at least. Because it’s a Japanese tradition.

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turtle_yurippe 17th-Feb-2013 09:02 pm (UTC)
What the hell? The Japanese internet must be even fuller of trolls than the English one is.
And what on earth is with all the anti-foreigner (or not even foreigner, Zainichi etc.) comments when they have NOTHING to do with the problem?

Why should a woman not keep her own name upon marriage? A man can.
primeling 17th-Feb-2013 09:17 pm (UTC)
Xenophobia, racism, sexism... rinse repeat. :/
earenya_beryl 17th-Feb-2013 09:03 pm (UTC)
Oh wow at the netizen's reaction...
marchlavender 17th-Feb-2013 09:08 pm (UTC)
As a Malay I will never have to deal with this kind of surname problem at all. I don't have a surname, the name I was born with will be the same till the day I die. But it was some sort of pain in the ass when I lived in UK for some years because of the idea of this surname; it's not fun to be called by your dad's name.
blancintrigure 18th-Feb-2013 09:45 am (UTC)
suddenly i'm glad not having 1st name and 2nd name. my name is my name. i was born with this name, married with the same name and die with my name. no need for changing or anything. i guees this issue is so troublesome. and the thing about cutting connection with the women's family? the hell with that?
aquariia 17th-Feb-2013 09:18 pm (UTC)
Wow the comments.-_-
I bet most of against the reform were men.
k0dama 17th-Feb-2013 09:24 pm (UTC)
I felt weird for me to take on my husband's name, so I kept my own.
For me to change my last name to his would mean I was being adopted by his parents to be an adopted sister to my husband or some weird shiznit like it.

We're not siblings. :V godno
myharu 17th-Feb-2013 09:36 pm (UTC)
okay netizens it's not gonna destroy families. Someone should propose a reform to allow joint surnames so I can see how they respond to that.
k0dama 17th-Feb-2013 09:39 pm (UTC)
but then the names would become ridiculously long like Mr.yamashishimamura
age_of_green 17th-Feb-2013 09:47 pm (UTC)
Nice to know that Japanese Yahoo has the same amount of conservative trolls as the American version.
45s 18th-Feb-2013 12:31 am (UTC)
Yama Take 17th-Feb-2013 11:28 pm (UTC)
My wife is a Japanese citizen & she kept her family name (we live in the US).

I took her family name in Japan which apparently gives me some sort of legal status there.

My 2 kids are dual citizens. I'm not sure how that works, but they have 2 passports.

Guess we are just really practical people. We did what maximized our rights in both countries. (e.g., health care, retirement system,...)

The Japanese comments seem one sided (I'm sure there are alternative viewpoints), but they do not surprise me.
turtle_yurippe 18th-Feb-2013 08:21 am (UTC)
I don't think that's what they realise might happen instead, though.
kotomichi 17th-Feb-2013 10:07 pm (UTC)
wtf @ these comments

what's so bad about having the OPTION at least??? besides, it's not like having the same surname says anything about the actual closeness of the family, i mean seriously
nalty7 17th-Feb-2013 10:13 pm (UTC)

i can't.with this logic the married people should have two surnames,the man's and the woman''s two people that make a family.

hananaki 17th-Feb-2013 10:41 pm (UTC)
Can I just say...

inachan89 17th-Feb-2013 10:14 pm (UTC)
Those comments.....
burger 17th-Feb-2013 10:16 pm (UTC)
Those comments are a teeny tiny bit out of control. I personally want to take my fiancé's surname when we get married but I don't think hypenating the names or keeping your own would instantly lead to a destruction of the country. But what do I know.
haruno21 17th-Feb-2013 11:37 pm (UTC)

and discussion ends there. it´s your name why would the state tell you what you should do with it

netizens are effin crazy
senshicalico 17th-Feb-2013 11:48 pm (UTC)
Talking with my Japanese lady friends over the years about these issues, most of them agree they just want to see the koseki system trashed and burned. It does nothing but hold women back, punish children for how they were born, and create antiquated rigid systems like this.
kyotaku 18th-Feb-2013 12:32 am (UTC)
lol at all the complains about legal aliases - and who made it necessary for the foreigners to get Japanese names in the past? And even now having a foreign surname can be sometimes so troublesome at official situations...
Also, having same surname doesn't mean the couple will not divorce...
oh netizens u.u
hadashi_no_eden 18th-Feb-2013 12:46 am (UTC)
Women should be able to do what they want. Keep their own name or take theirs huband's. I wasn't attached to my last name so I was happy to take my husband's but I can understand women who want to keep their own.

WTF are these racist, sexist comments though? Different names will destroy Japan? Keep reaching idiots.
crystalluvshun 18th-Feb-2013 01:47 am (UTC)
well to be fair, I can sort of understand why some people are against it...I mean, when you marry someone, you are practically married into their family, for women, you are married into your husband's family, and you legally become part of that family, so spontaneously you adopt your husbands name too. It's the same thing in western countries too, when a woman marries a man, usually they adopt their husband's surname too. Although in some countries, it is still ok for the women to keep their maiden surnames...I thought Japan was the same, but it seems I was wrong. But for the women to keep their maiden names...I don't know, it just makes the couple seem rather 'separated' in a way, when they should be united.

Overall, although I understand to some extent why some Japanese are against having separate names, I still think the netizens reactions were a bit too harsh & extreme, I didn't know they were THAT much against it. Then again, it's still possible that most of those netizens were men who don't want their spouses to keep their maiden names, those guys have their egos afterall XD

Edited at 2013-02-18 01:50 am (UTC)
raatkerani 18th-Feb-2013 02:12 am (UTC)
In Japan, there is another possibility, where the groom enters the bride's family instead of in the normal way. Friends of mine did. Either way, one has to enter the other's family.
kanojokhj 18th-Feb-2013 01:48 am (UTC)
"a very Japanese thing"......................................................... hahahahahahahahaha They do not know more cultures.... ?????? So funny reading this but... I wonder sometimes what makes me want to go there if people is that narrow minded (or is that also "a very Japanese thing"?)
crystalluvshun 18th-Feb-2013 01:54 am (UTC)
no need to generalize all Japanese people just based on those handful of netizens. I've been to Japan several times before, and met many nice & open-minded people there, Japan has many beautiful places to visit.
Of course there will also be some narrow-minded people, but those types of people are practically everywhere in the world.
cuddlebump 18th-Feb-2013 02:07 am (UTC)
In the UK it is the norm to have the male surname - but we still have the option to have both surnames or for the man to take the woman's name, or for the couple to keep their own names.

No matter what, this sort of thing should be the choice of the couple, they should at least have the option available.
raatkerani 18th-Feb-2013 02:10 am (UTC)
i have a japanese friend who explained to me how hard it is for a woman after getting married because she had to change all her documents to her new name (registry, insurance, banks, credit cards, etc) right after she got married. then when she got divorced, she had to go through the whole same procedure to return everything to her maiden name. she said the whole process gave her hell.

in my country, not everyone has family name. i don't. and even if it's going to be easy if i get married in my own country... it surely is difficult to fill legal documents outside my country because it requires me to fill family name, and no, my second name is not my family name, as i often have to emphasize to people.
pink_plushie 18th-Feb-2013 03:25 am (UTC)
Wow, so much stupidity from those netizens...
daietto_dvd 18th-Feb-2013 03:46 am (UTC)
I can't with all those butthurt comments. Try to prevent women from receiving equal chances while pretending to ~care on culture~

Edited at 2013-02-18 03:51 am (UTC)
frozencrumbz 18th-Feb-2013 06:47 am (UTC)
Um. Wow. What's with all these anti-choice/anti-progress ppl living in the dark ages?

I understand that this might mess up their antiquidated family registry system (a valid concern for some), but all these "but it's Japanese tradition!!!11" excuses are just nonsense. What's wrong with giving women the CHOICE to choose whether they want to maintain Japanese tradition or not?

I can imagine that - even if they legalise this - only a small fraction of women would choose to keep their maiden names anyway (considering the number of women in the workforce after marriage). So it's not like this law will subvert the patrilineal tradition or anything - misogynists calm your farms please.
turtle_yurippe 18th-Feb-2013 08:25 am (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it's only a valid concern for the people working in the ward offices etc. and who actually have to deal with a new system if we ever get one, but the rest just seems... completely crazy.
awkward_as_heck 18th-Feb-2013 09:10 am (UTC)
Wow. That escalted quickly.

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