An unmarried couple filed a suit Monday with the Tokyo District Court, demanding that the justice minister and the mayor of Tokyo's Nakano Ward pay 4 million yen in damages and nullify family registry records that list their daughter simply as "female," indicating she was born out of wedlock.
The pair charge that the listing is discriminatory and violates the Constitution, which states that everyone is equal before the law. It is also a violation of their privacy, the couple said.
The plaintiffs -- Sumiko Tanaka, 52, Noboru Fukukita, 52, and their 14-year-old daughter -- say it is the first lawsuit that demands nullification of a discriminatory registry listing.