Survey finds women in Japan mostly rely on day-care centers to care for their children while working
Day-care centers for children and other public facilities are the most important places for mothers in Japan have their children looked after when they are at work, replacing their parents, a survey of married women by a government-affiliated institute on Friday showed. In the survey, ...
Time for a change? Japan wants international media to put family names first
Foreign Minister Taro Kono plans to ask overseas media outlets to write the names of Japanese people with the family name first, as is customary in the Japanese language. If realized, the new policy would mark a major shift in the country's long-running practice for ...
Allow different surnames for married couples
Japan is the sole country in which husband and wife are legally obliged to use the same surname. This should change.
Teacher reaches settlement allowing use of maiden names at western Tokyo school
A female teacher in her 40s and the Tokyo school she is employed at have reached a settlement that allows teachers to continue using their maiden names after marriage, the woman's lawyers said Friday. Nihon University's Third Junior and Senior High School, based in the ...
What's in a surname? A court divorced from reality
Here at Law of the Land, I try to share "the Japanese law experience" with general readers. Today's experience is called "The Frustration of Reading Supreme Court Decisions" and takes as examples two of the most significant decisions of 2015: one on a law ...
In Abe's Japan, a woman's place is on the margins
On Dec. 16, Japan's Supreme Court struck a blow for patriarchy by refusing to strike down the law requiring married couples to adopt one surname, a regulation that weighs disproportionately on women since in almost all cases they adopt their husband's family name. For ...
U.S. gender experts slam Supreme Court ruling backing same surname for spouses
U.S. gender equality experts on Wednesday criticized a ruling by Japan's Supreme Court upholding a law requiring spouses to use the same surname, describing the law as outdated. "Having the same name as her husband is not necessarily against her self-interest, but it should be ...
Experts say surname verdict reflects top court's gender, age makeup
Questions have been raised as to whether a better gender balance among the top court's 15 justices might have resulted in a different outcome.
Plaintiffs express shock at bad precedent set by court's decision on shared surnames
Plaintiffs contesting family laws that require spouses to choose a single surname expressed shock and anger at Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling, saying it sets a bad precedent and will force more women to suffer the misery of having to change their name upon marriage. In ...
The Supreme Court confirms the constitutionality of a controversial law requiring married couples to use the same surname in official matters.
Spouses await court ruling on retaining maiden name in marriage
Tears welled up in Kaori Oguni's eyes as she recalled the heartache she felt at what was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of her life — that is, when she and her husband registered their marriage at a Tokyo ward office ...
What's in a name? Japan debates whether to allow spouses to adopt separate surnames
Upper House lawmaker Mizuho Fukushima and her partner, Yuichi Kaido, have been together for about 40 years. They don't celebrate any kind of anniversary, however, because they've never been officially married. The couple made a mutual decision to abstain from getting married several decades ago ...
