Yuko Miyazaki, newly appointed to the country's top court, says she will issue her legal judgments under her maiden name — Miyazaki — becoming Japan's first woman to abandon the court's long tradition of using one's legal name after marriage.
Miyazaki, 66, who has more than 30 years experience as a lawyer and is a member of the Daiichi Tokyo Bar Association, officially took her seat at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. She is the sixth woman to assume a position on the bench in the court's history.
"I've been using my maiden name Miyazaki while working as an attorney, so it's natural that I should keep using it," Miyazaki told a news conference Tuesday at the top court in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.