EXCLUSIVE: Japan to Mull Pre-Marriage Name Use in Gender Equality Program

Tokyo, Dec. 6 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government, in its sixth basic program for promoting gender equality, will stipulate that it will consider legislation to legalize the use of pre-marriage family names, informed sources told the Jiji Press on Saturday. The move will come in response to a plan by the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to enact a bill on the matter during next year’s ordinary Diet session following an agreement between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai. The sixth basic program, which is expected to be approved by the cabinet at the end of this month, will pledge the government’s efforts to further expand the use of original surnames, including considering the establishment of a system that gives legal validity to birth surnames so that they can be used in all aspects of social life to address the inconveniences faced by people who changed their surnames upon marriage. A draft outline of the basic program compiled in August this year under the administration of Shigeru Ishiba, Takaichi’s immediate predecessor, adopted the same wording on the topic of surnames of married couples as the fifth basic plan. While the draft included a plan to expand and publicize the use of birth surnames, it did not mention the establishment of necessary legislation. The sixth basic program will serve as the government’s basic guidelines for five years from fiscal 2026 to realize a gender-equal society. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]