2025 Could Be Turning Point for Dual Surname Option in Japan

Tokyo, Jan. 2 (Jiji Press)--This year could be a turning point in the family law system in Japan. Calls for introducing a dual surname option for spouses have been growing among politicians, even members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The focus is on how Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will handle the matter.

Ishiba expressed an intention to have his LDP deepen discussions on the matter at a press conference last month. At the LDP presidential election in September, he expressed support for allowing dual surnames for married couples.

Currently in the country, married couples are required to adopt a single surname. In 1996, the Legislative Council, an advisory panel to the justice minister, proposed allowing them to retain separate surnames.

Opposition parties have since submitted bills to revise the Civil Code to introduce a selective dual surname system, but they have been scrapped.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]