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.
Japan's largest business lobby, Keidanren, has said the law "hinders women's advancement". As women "rise in the workplace" the status quo is causing "resentment", said The Economist. "Name changes are a pain for people who have toiled to build a strong reputation."
It is also claimed that the law contributes, in part, to Japan's low birth rate. A survey conducted by Asuniwa, an NGO that advocates for a selective dual-surname system, reported in The Japan Times, found that almost 30% of people in "de facto" marriages would legally tie the knot if the law changed. This number could be as high as 590,000 people, so in a country where having a child out of wedlock is still taboo, this would lead to more births, the argument goes.
But "the issue has become totemic for a chunk of the Japanese political right", with conservative hardliners arguing that a change in the law would "confuse kids and loosen family bonds". One speaker at a recent gathering of the ultra-conservative Nippon Kaigi group said efforts to change name rules were part of a "communist plot" to "tear apart traditional values and destroy the country". | 
