Young Japanese Support Separate Married Surname Option
A survey of teenagers in Japan found strong support for changing the law to allow married couples to maintain separate surnames.
The Nippon Foundation ran a survey in mid-August 2025 asking 1,000 teenagers aged 17 to 19 about their views on introducing a selective separate surname system for married couples in Japan.
Overall, around 90% of respondents were aware of this system, with approximately 70% expressing interest in it.
Under current civil law, when a couple get married, one of them is required to change their surname so that they share the same one.
Notably,
94% of casesare women who change their surname.
Only 20.5% of respondents thought the current system “should be maintained.”
Instead, most men and women were in favor of a system that would let them choose separate surnames; for women this was a majority at
53.0%.
Author's summary: Japanese teenagers support separate surnames.