Will Japanese women be able to keep their maiden name after marriage? Big lobby demands change

TOKYO (AP) — A powerful Japanese business lobby is calling on the government to allow couples to keep double surnamesstating that the lack of freedom to do so harms the advancement of women and has even become a business risk.

In Japan, each couple must legally adopt a family name. Although either surname can be used, 95% of women still traditionally adopt their husbands, according to a 2022 government survey. Experts say such a law only exists in Japan and have even accused it of driving women away from marriage in a country that already suffers nuptials decreasing.

Keidanren, or Japan Business Federation, said on Monday that the law needs to be revised to suit a more diverse, equal and inclusive Japanese society.

This happened months after about a dozen plaintiffs filed a lawsuit asking to change the system.

“As women play more active roles and the number of female executives is increasing, the surname issue has become a business risk that companies can no longer dismiss as a problem for certain individuals,” said Masakazu Tokura, chief from Keidanren.

Tokura said many Japanese career women already use their maiden names at work and on their business cards, including 90 percent of Keidanren women. However, they still need to use their unified surnames on all legal documents, which causes them problems when – for example – opening bank accounts, issuing credit cards and traveling abroad as the names do not match, he said.

Keidanren interviewed its members internally and 88% of female Executives expressed dissatisfaction with the status quo.

The proposal from the organization – which has more than 1,500 Japanese companies and has regularly made economic policy recommendations – is seen as unusual, as it has usually supported the conservative government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Liberal Democratic Party who shelved the idea of ​​double surnames for more than three decades.

Tokura says the proposal will be presented to the government next week after approval by the lobby council meeting. They also called on parliament to quickly support a change to the 1898 civil code governing the adoption of surnames.

On Monday, when asked about the proposal, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi of the ruling party said the public had varying opinions on the issue and that careful discussion was needed.

However, several surveys show that the vast majority support a household with two surnames, and the LDP ruler, which also opposes same-sex marriage, is already facing growing calls to allow more diversity in family values ​​and marriage. Many in the party support traditional gender roles and a paternalistic family system, arguing that allowing the double surname option would destroy the family unit.

In 2015 and 2021, the Supreme Court concluded that the one-name policy was not unconstitutional, but urged parliament to discuss the issue. But deliberations were paralyzed due to opposition from conservatives in the ruling party.

Akari Takahashi, a 22-year-old wedding planner, said she never questioned taking her father’s surname until she traveled to Australia and her host mother expressed displeasure with the idea of ​​a unified surname.

“That’s when I realized something was wrong with it,” Takahashi said, adding that he couldn’t imagine having to make such a choice.

The rights gap between men and women in Japan is among the highest in the world, with Japan ranked 125th in a 2023 World Economic Forum survey of 146 countries.

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AP video journalist Richard Colombo contributed to this report.