Japan opposition party pushing divided Liberal Democratic Party over separate surnames for married couples
- Under Japanese laws, a couple must choose between either of their surnames upon marriage
- A legal revision would enable married couples to have separate surnames
Japan’s largest opposition party is seeking to push forward a legal revision to enable married couples to have separate surnames by urging some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to join hands with it.
The development comes as a deep divide surfaced within the LDP led by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as to whether to introduce such an alternative to a single surname per couple.
Yukio Edano, head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, plans to call for adopting a revision to the Civil Code, which opposition forces submitted in 2018 to introduce separate surnames, in the regular parliamentary session starting later this month.
“Let’s make it clear who in the LDP is opposed to it and who is not in the plenary session,” Edano said in a video post on Twitter dated December 18, telling LDP members supportive of separate surnames, “We can make this pass the Diet.”
Under Japanese laws, a couple must choose between either of their surnames upon marriage. While the rule is applicable to either, as it is women who change their surnames more than 90 per cent of the cases, it has been criticised as discriminatory.
