Japan's surname conundrum

Law requiring couples to share one surname hinders women in the workplace and lowers birth rate, campaigners claim

Photo collage of a bride and groom in traditional Japanese dress. The bride's face is cut out, showing the background of a Japanese marriage license peeking through.
(Image credit: Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images)

It is a question many couples wrestle with when getting married. Do they take their partner's surname or keep their own?

But while it is common in many countries for couples to take a single surname after marriage, in Japan it is a legal requirement. The law, dating from Japan's Meiji era, which ended in 1912, does not explicitly state that a woman must take her husband's name, rather than a man taking his wife's, but 95% of women do.

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