WHAT IS IN A NAME?
“I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
I INTRODUCTION
What is in a name? For some, see Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, for example, a name is nothing but a superficial title, interchangeable with any other word. However, throughout all of human history, names have carried much weight in shaping the identity of a person.
In much of Europe, due to the ever-growing population, names were ways to assign individuals an identity linking them to their occupation, a notable trait, or their lineage.[1] In Korea, surnames originally signified political and social status and were reserved for nobility, only changing during the late Joseon Dynasty period and later colonisation by Japan.[2] Names have also been used as tools for oppression; a way for colonisers to exert their power and brutally erase the identities of the people they colonise. For example, British colonisers in Australia and the United States sought to rename geographical sights to demonstrate their successful “capture” of these sights.[3] Similarly, British colonisers flexed their “imperialist muscle” by renaming the Zimbabwean people that they had colonised.[4]
To many, erasure means nothing more than the repression of identity. Names have, and continue to be, the cornerstones of identity, and thus the most pernicious laws that exist are ones that strip that identity piece by piece, leaving little left but a shell of the individual. This is the effect of Article 750 of the Japanese Civil Code.
II CONTEXT
Japan is a country that is often framed as a futuristic paradise. From bullet trains to 24/7 convenience stores, to high-tech hospitality, it is not difficult to see why the masses are convinced that “Japan is living in 2050”. However, hiding behind the neon-light dreamscape, is the dark underbelly characterised by a traditional society that is unwilling to evolve for fear of any individual breaking out of the well-marked boundaries of social cohesion.
Nothing evinces this more than the treatment of women in Japan. Japan ranked 118th out of 148 countries in the 2025 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report.[5] This places the country not only at the bottom of the G7, but also the lowest out of all OECD countries. Comparatively, Australia ranked 13th, the UK ranked 4th, and Germany ranked 9th. Even within East Asia, China ranked 103rd, and South Korea ranked 101st. The low rank is explained by a series of unfavourable conditions that women face in Japanese society. The workforce participation of women is only 74%, with more than half of these women having non-regular employment.[6] The gender wage gap is the fourth lowest out of all OEDC countries, at 22.1%. This means for every $100 a man makes, a woman makes $77.9.[7] More damagingly, nearly a third of working women have experienced some form of sexual harassment at their place of work.[8] The age of consent was only recently raised from just 13 to 16. And Japan imposes mandatory audio cues in smartphone cameras to prevent the phenomenon of ‘upskirting’ in busy train stations.[9] To add to this, it is reported that around 70% of sexual assault victims do not come forward due to shame and embarrassment.[10] All these pressures make Japan an incredibly difficult place for women not only to live and flourish, but to merely exist.
The blatant discrimination only worsens due to the codification, and in turn entrenchment, of regressive norms, demonstrated most pertinently by Article 750, dubbed the ‘same name’ rule. Article 750 states that, “[a] husband and wife shall adopt the surname of the husband or wife . . . at the time of marriage”.[11] In addition to Article 750, Article 74 of the Family Register Act requires couples to register “the surname that the husband and wife will take” on their family register applications.[12] In conjunction, the two laws restrict married couples in Japan to take the same last name— a law that fundamentally serves to restrict women’s freedom.
This law is detrimental to women for a few reasons. The first, and most principled, is that it literally and forcefully strips the identity of those women, erasing their pre-marital selves out of existence. This is an incredibly difficult adjustment to make for any individual, let alone when the choice of changing your name is taken out of your hands. One plaintiff suing for emotional distress due to her loss of name remarked, ‘[b]y losing your surname … you’re being made light of, you’re not respected … It’s as if part of your self vanishes’.[13]
Second, the forceful change of names has a series of detrimental legal consequences. It forces women to change their professional identities, resulting in women either completely losing their ties to their previous professional credibility and work, or having their future professional identities tied to the fact that they are now married. Further, it creates a massive administrative burden, requiring everything from passports to driver’s licences to bank accounts to be renewed with the new name.[14]
While it could be argued that the law does not inherently restrict women’s rights, due to the law allowing either couple’s name to be chosen, such an argument would be a blatant disregard of the very evident realities. In 2022, of around 480,000 couples that were married that year, 95% opted for the surname of the husband.[15] Furthermore, a survey conducted in 2024 showed that 78% of couples do not discuss which surname they would use. This, in conjunction with the aforementioned social norms of women being secondary in Japanese society, evidences that this law is one that has and will continue to disproportionately affect women’s rights. Thus, the question that must be asked is how did such an oppressive law come into existence in the first place?
III HISTORY OF THE LAW
The Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (‘LDP’) often asserts that the reason Article 750 ought not be changed is that the common marital surname promotes ‘traditional family values’.[16] However, surnames were only introduced in Japan during the Meiji Era (1868-1912).[17] Prior to this, only the aristocracy would have surnames, with the full name taking the form ‘Surname no Given name’, where no acts as a particle meaning ‘of the’.[18] Commoners, on the other hand, were given temporary bynames tied to their place of residence or work.[19]
The Meiji Era brought about the shift in Japanese society, from an agrarian feudal society to modern society, consequently establishing the first use of surnames for commoners. During this era, women were told to ‘keep the surnames of the families into which they were born’.[20] However, concurrently with the development of Japanese society, the Meiji era also saw a greater influence from the West— a stark contrast to the complete shutting out of the West during the Sakoku era (1603-1868).[21] As such, only 20 years later, the civil law of Japan was introduced stipulating that married couples would only be allowed to have one name, mirroring traditional Western concepts of marriage.[22] This places the so-called ‘traditional’ rule at merely 130 years old.[23]
IV A HOPE FOR CHANGE
A hope for change came in 2021, when a married couple who wanted to have separate last names mounted a constitutional challenge against the law. In this case, it was argued that the restriction on the names was a restriction of personal rights and thus was in contravention of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Tokyo High Court upheld Article 750 in a 12-3 decision on a number of bases. The majority argued that harms to personal interests were distinct from constitutional rights.[24] Three justices, Justice Miyama, Okamura and Nagamine, argued further that this was not unconstitutional as the law was not a restriction on the act of marriage itself, but instead it was an effect of marriage. While they acknowledged that the law can be harmful to personal interests, they believed this was a matter for the Diet to address through legislative reform.[25] One dissenting opinion, by Justices Miyazaki and Uga, argued that the law was unconstitutional due to the importance of the full name in society and in upholding individuality. Further, the Justices noted that the law was always disproportionately leveraged against women.[26] Despite the Justices’ powerful dissent, the law was upheld and found to not be in contravention of the Constitution.
In 2025, there was hope once again, with Sanae Takaichi making headlines as the first female prime minister of Japan. While many would assume electing the first female leader would lead to the country trending towards greater gender equality (both normatively and through the legislature), however the reality in Japan is much bleaker. Takaichi leads the LDP, which is staunchly in support of ‘traditional family values’ and opposes any change to the marriage laws.[27] This, of course, is an ironic statement due to surnames being a relatively recent invention in Japanese society. But nonetheless, it seems unlikely that the law will change in the Japanese legislature, the Diet, anytime soon.
The demonstrated reluctance to change is baffling, placing Japan as the object of critique in the international community. Japan is one of the few countries in the world where it is illegal for married couples to have a different surname. As such, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has called on Japan to revise the law.[28] Despite this criticism, however, the LDP is incredibly reluctant to change its stance on any marriage laws. While, perhaps, the country is and will continue to be unpersuaded by the inherent normative value of such a change in their laws, there are two practical reasons that would surely steer the Diet enough to be motivated to amend the law in the near future.
The first, and most obvious, is the danger in the growing number of citizens who possess the same surname. A study conducted in 2024 by economics professor Hiroshi Yoshida demonstrated that without law reform, by 2531, every Japanese person will have the last name “Sato”.[29] Practically, this would be an issue, as there would be greater difficulty in distinguishing individuals. One could imagine that in a highly populated, dense region such as Tokyo, having a population that could only be distinguished by first names would cause much confusion for individuals and an organisational burden for local governments. This nominal hegemony would also lead to a loss of family, regional and heritage identity being reflected, amounting to a loss of the rich tapestry of culture that derives from the eight regions of Japan.
The second issue with the ‘same name’ law is its cause in the declining birth rate. Currently, Japan is experiencing a birth rate crisis, where the number of births has hit a record low. The fertility rate, measuring the average number of children a birthing person has in their lifetime, dropped to a national average of 1.14, and in some regions, below 1.00.[30] A major correlation exists between the declining birth rate and declining marriages. As recently as 2023, the number of marriages in Japan fell below 500,000 for the first time since the 1930s.[31] While Article 750 is one of only many aspects contributing to Japan’s declining marriage rate, it is quite clearly a decisive factor in couples choosing not to get married, demonstrated by the several lawsuits mounted against the law.
V CONCLUSION
On July 29 2026, the Sapporo District Court conducted its first hearing regarding the newest lawsuit against Article 750. This consisted of statements from over 900 individuals requesting to change their names.[32] While the decision has yet to be handed down, there is hope that the growing public dissent towards the law, worsening social outcomes, and previous strong judicial dissent will overturn the outcomes of previous judicial decisions. The overturning of this law would be a crucial step in ensuring gender equality and the restoration of identity for all women in Japan.
Bibliography
[1] Paul Blake, ‘What's In a Name? Your Link to the Past’, History (Webpage, 2026) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/surnames_01.shtml>.
[2] Bo-young Kim, ‘Understanding the Historical and Cultural Legacy of Korean Surnames’, Dongguk Post (online, 14 October 2024) <https://www.donggukmedia.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=82852>.
[3] Sara Weuffen, Fred Cahir and Margaret Zeegers, ‘What’s in a Name?: Exploring the Implications of Eurocentric (Re)naming Practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nomenclature in Australian Education Practices’, (2016) 45(2) The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 181.
[4] Jacob Mapara and Ethel Siamena, ‘Naming the colonized and vanquished: archiving the successes of the imperial enterprise’, (2024) 11(1) Cogent Arts & Humanities 1.
[5] World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2025 (June 2025) 39.
[6] Kohei Asao, Purva Khera, and Mahima Vasishth, ‘Why Such Few Women in Leadership Positions in Japan?: Japan’ [2024] (024) International Monetary Fund 2.
[7] Aki Tanaka and Thelma Akpan, ‘Japan Addresses the Wage Gap by Requiring Gender Pay Gap Disclosure’, Japan Address the Wage Gap by Requiring Gender Pay Gap Disclose (Webpage, 2023) <https://japansociety.org/news/japan-addresses-the-wage-gap-by-requiring-gender-pay-gap-disclosure/>.
[8] Justice McCurry, ‘Nearly a third of Japan's women 'sexually harassed at work'’ (online, 2016) <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/02/japan-women-sexually-harassed-at-work-report-finds>.
[9] Lauren James, ‘Six ways Japanese women can deter gropers on trains and sexual harassment, from stickers to stamps’ (online, 2019) <https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3025325/six-ways-japanese-women-can-deter-gropers-trains-and>.
[10] Shaimaa Khalil, ‘The women fighting Japan’s sexual violence stigma’ BBC (online, 2023)
[11] Minpō [Civil Code] 1896 (Japan) art 750 (Japan Ministry of Justice trans, Japanese Law Translation, Japan Legal Information Translation System).
[12] Koseki Hō [Family Register Act] 1947 (Japan) art 74 (Ministry of Justice of Japan trans, Japanese Law Translation).
[13] Justin McCurry, ‘Japan upholds rule that married couples must have same surname’ The Guardian <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/16/japanese-court-rules-married-women-cannot-keep-their-surnames>.
[14] Saki Toi, ‘“Honorary Man”: Takaichi Sanae Scorned, Shunned by Japanese Feminists’, Unseen Japan (Webpage, 11 October 2025) <https://unseen-japan.com/takaichi-sanae-honorary-man-feminists/>.
[15] Yasuo Takao, ‘Japan sorely needs separate surname’ (Crawford School of Public Policy, 2026).
[16] ‘VOX POPULI: Shared surname law added only 130 years ago to mimic the West’ The Asahi Shimbun (online, 13 February 2025) <https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15623175>.
[17] Ibid.
[18] ‘Japanese Names’ Sengoku Daimyo (Webpage, 2026) <https://sengokudaimyo.com/japanese-names>.
[19] Ibid.
[20] The Asahi Shimbun (n 15).
[21] Everett Munez, ‘Sakoku’, Britannica (Encyclopedia, 6 August 2026) <https://www.britannica.com/topic/sakoku>.
[22] Takao (no 14).
[23] The Asahi Shimbun (n 15).
[24] ‘Same Surname Case’ (2022) 135(5) Harvard Law Review 1504, 1505.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid 1507.
[27] James Oaten, ‘Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan's first female PM, but some say it is not a win for women’, Australian Broadcasting Company (online, 21 October 2025) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-21/japan-first-female-pm-sanae-takaichi/105911682>.
[28] Mizuho Morioka, ‘U.N. urges Japan to allow selective surnames for married couples’, The Asahi Shimbun (online, 30 October 2024) <https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15487493>.
[29] Justin McCurry, ‘Everyone in Japan will be called Sato by 2531 unless marriage law changed, says professor’, The Guardian (online, 2 April 2024) <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/japan-sato-only-name-by-2531-marriage-law>.
[30] ‘Baby Decline: Births in Japan Drop for the Tenth Successive Year’, Nippon.com (Webpage, 9 June 2026) <https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02802/>.
[31] Tim Hornyak, ‘Japan asks young people why they are not marrying amid population crisis’, The Guardian (online, 19 July 2024) <https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/19/japan-asks-young-people-views-marriage-population-crisis>.
[32] Yukika Wada, ‘Japan couple in legal battle for separate surnames seeking respect as individuals’, The Mainichi (online, 14 August 2026) <https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260813/p2a/00m/0na/004000c>.
