Japan’s Top Court Rules Married Couples Must Have Same Surname
Ruling keeps in place 19th-century law under which most wives in Japan end up sharing their husband’s name
http://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-top-court-rules-married-couples-must-have-same-last-name-1450267126#lf_comment=430525493
By JUN HONGO
Updated Dec. 16, 2015 8:58 a.m. ET
9 COMMENTS
TOKYO—Japan’s Supreme Court upheld a law dating to the 19th century that requires married couples to have the same surname, rejecting an argument by three women and a married couple that it violates their rights.
The case has drawn wide attention in Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has advocated the advancement of women at companies and government agencies. Wednesday’s ruling means that women who keep using their maiden names in professional situations must continue to cope with extra paperwork and other hassles because their legal names are different.
Japan is one of the few countries that requires married couples to pick either the husband’s or wife’s surname. A United Nations body that seeks to eliminate gender discrimination has repeatedly asked the country to revise its law, but efforts to do so in parliament haven’t gotten far.
“I can’t hold back my tears, I am saddened,” Kyoko Tsukamoto, one of the plaintiffs, said at a news conference following the ruling. “I won’t be able to die as Kyoko Tsukamoto.”
On its face, the law is gender-neutral because a husband could take the surname of his wife. In practice, however, about 96% of couples choose the husband’s surname, according to court papers.
The Supreme Court, upholding lower-court rulings, said the practice of requiring a single surname was well-established in Japan. “We can discern a rational basis for stipulating a single appellation for a family,” the court said.
It said the law didn’t violate the Japanese constitution’s requirement that laws pertaining to marriage “shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.” It said parliament, not the court system, was the proper venue to debate the merits of the law.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2010 wrote in its manifesto that it opposed allowing different surnames. But at a news conference earlier this year, Tomomi Inada, the chairwoman of the party’s policy research council, said there are varying opinions within the LDP.
All three women on the 15-member court as well as two male justices criticized the ruling, saying the law violated the constitution.
Justice Kiyoko Okabe said that forcing a woman to change her name could lead to concrete harm, such as losing recognition among her peers for a patent she acquired under her maiden name. In an age when a person’s name can be searched globally on the Internet, “the utility and necessity of using the surname one had before marriage has increased even further,” wrote Justice Okabe, joined by her two female colleagues.
The plaintiffs had argued that the law breached their constitutional rights. They demanded a total of \6 million ($49,200) in damages from the government.
In another marriage-related case Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down a law that bans women, but not men, from remarrying within six months of a divorce.
The case was brought by a plaintiff in western Japan, who argued that imposing the restriction only on women violated her constitutional right to equality. She had demanded that the government pay \1.7 million in damages.
The Supreme Court said the six-month period should be reduced to 100 days or fewer. It called the shorter period justifiable to avoid confusion over paternity in instances where the ex-wife is pregnant. Parliament must approve the change to a 100-day rule, and Mr. Abe’s spokesman said work to do so would begin promptly.
The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim for damages.
The rulings came as the place of women in Japanese society is evolving. It remains common in Japan for women to quit their full-time work when they have children or marry.
While most women work, they aren’t paid as much as their male counterparts, with women still making only 72% of what men do, according to a survey by the government released in February.
Many women are waiting until they are older to marry, and because birth out of wedlock is uncommon in Japan, birthrates have fallen, with the average woman having about 1.4 children in her lifetime.
Write to Jun Hongo at Jun.Hongo@wsj.com
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[jamawns' comment]
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Culture and tradition. In English, family means 'F'ather 'A'nd 'M'other 'I' 'L'ove 'Y'ou. In Japanese, family means clan. Marriage means family ties between man's clan and woman's clan. Woman become a member of man's clan.
Have you ever heard 100th/442nd composed entirely of Japanese Americans ? Half year before the Pacific war between the US and Japan, Hideki Tojo, P.M. later on, sent a letter to Compton Gakuen, a Japanese language school in Hawaii. Mr. Endo, the school principal, introduced the letter to about a hundred students and teachers at a morning assembly. 'This is the letter to you, the second generation Japanese American. You are American. Therefore, It should be obvious to dedicate your loyalty to your own motherland', the United States of America. Hideki Tojo had instructed 'Bushido', the Soul of Japan.
(FYI)
Woman in China continue holding her own surname, and never be viewed as man's family member.
(PS)
Children also have struggle if their parent(s) divorce or re-divorce.
Ruling keeps in place 19th-century law under which most wives in Japan end up sharing their husband’s name
http://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-top-court-rules-married-couples-must-have-same-last-name-1450267126#lf_comment=430525493
By JUN HONGO
Updated Dec. 16, 2015 8:58 a.m. ET
9 COMMENTS
TOKYO—Japan’s Supreme Court upheld a law dating to the 19th century that requires married couples to have the same surname, rejecting an argument by three women and a married couple that it violates their rights.
The case has drawn wide attention in Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has advocated the advancement of women at companies and government agencies. Wednesday’s ruling means that women who keep using their maiden names in professional situations must continue to cope with extra paperwork and other hassles because their legal names are different.
Japan is one of the few countries that requires married couples to pick either the husband’s or wife’s surname. A United Nations body that seeks to eliminate gender discrimination has repeatedly asked the country to revise its law, but efforts to do so in parliament haven’t gotten far.
“I can’t hold back my tears, I am saddened,” Kyoko Tsukamoto, one of the plaintiffs, said at a news conference following the ruling. “I won’t be able to die as Kyoko Tsukamoto.”
On its face, the law is gender-neutral because a husband could take the surname of his wife. In practice, however, about 96% of couples choose the husband’s surname, according to court papers.
The Supreme Court, upholding lower-court rulings, said the practice of requiring a single surname was well-established in Japan. “We can discern a rational basis for stipulating a single appellation for a family,” the court said.
It said the law didn’t violate the Japanese constitution’s requirement that laws pertaining to marriage “shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.” It said parliament, not the court system, was the proper venue to debate the merits of the law.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2010 wrote in its manifesto that it opposed allowing different surnames. But at a news conference earlier this year, Tomomi Inada, the chairwoman of the party’s policy research council, said there are varying opinions within the LDP.
All three women on the 15-member court as well as two male justices criticized the ruling, saying the law violated the constitution.
Justice Kiyoko Okabe said that forcing a woman to change her name could lead to concrete harm, such as losing recognition among her peers for a patent she acquired under her maiden name. In an age when a person’s name can be searched globally on the Internet, “the utility and necessity of using the surname one had before marriage has increased even further,” wrote Justice Okabe, joined by her two female colleagues.
The plaintiffs had argued that the law breached their constitutional rights. They demanded a total of \6 million ($49,200) in damages from the government.
In another marriage-related case Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down a law that bans women, but not men, from remarrying within six months of a divorce.
The case was brought by a plaintiff in western Japan, who argued that imposing the restriction only on women violated her constitutional right to equality. She had demanded that the government pay \1.7 million in damages.
The Supreme Court said the six-month period should be reduced to 100 days or fewer. It called the shorter period justifiable to avoid confusion over paternity in instances where the ex-wife is pregnant. Parliament must approve the change to a 100-day rule, and Mr. Abe’s spokesman said work to do so would begin promptly.
The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim for damages.
The rulings came as the place of women in Japanese society is evolving. It remains common in Japan for women to quit their full-time work when they have children or marry.
While most women work, they aren’t paid as much as their male counterparts, with women still making only 72% of what men do, according to a survey by the government released in February.
Many women are waiting until they are older to marry, and because birth out of wedlock is uncommon in Japan, birthrates have fallen, with the average woman having about 1.4 children in her lifetime.
Write to Jun Hongo at Jun.Hongo@wsj.com
------------------------
[jamawns' comment]
------------------------
Culture and tradition. In English, family means 'F'ather 'A'nd 'M'other 'I' 'L'ove 'Y'ou. In Japanese, family means clan. Marriage means family ties between man's clan and woman's clan. Woman become a member of man's clan.
Have you ever heard 100th/442nd composed entirely of Japanese Americans ? Half year before the Pacific war between the US and Japan, Hideki Tojo, P.M. later on, sent a letter to Compton Gakuen, a Japanese language school in Hawaii. Mr. Endo, the school principal, introduced the letter to about a hundred students and teachers at a morning assembly. 'This is the letter to you, the second generation Japanese American. You are American. Therefore, It should be obvious to dedicate your loyalty to your own motherland', the United States of America. Hideki Tojo had instructed 'Bushido', the Soul of Japan.
(FYI)
Woman in China continue holding her own surname, and never be viewed as man's family member.
(PS)
Children also have struggle if their parent(s) divorce or re-divorce.