Japan panel to propose expanded use of original surnames

April 21, 2019

Tokyo--A Japanese government panel plans to include in a set of recommendations to be compiled as early as in May a proposal calling for allowing nursery teachers and others to keep using their original surnames at workplaces after marriage.

The regulatory reform promotion council is discussing expanding the range of people with national vocational qualifications who are allowed to continue using their original surnames after marriage as part of measures to empower women, a policy promoted by the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Among national vocational qualification holders, lawyers and certified public accountants are allowed to continue using their original surnames.

But license registration under original surnames are not allowed for nursery teachers and care workers. These people, including many women, thus have to change their registered names after marriage.

Satsuki Katayama, minister for regulatory reforms, who also doubles as minister for women's empowerment, has shown her willingness to review the current restrictions in a bid to create a workplace environment friendly to women.

Meanwhile the envisaged expansion of the use of original surnames may affect discussions on the possible introduction of a system allowing married couples to use their original names after marriage, pundits said.

Conservatives, the main supporters of the Abe administration, are negative about the dual-surname system, claiming that it could lead to the collapse of the traditional family system in the country.

If nursery teachers and care workers are allowed to keep using their original surnames after marriage, the momentum for promoting discussions on the dual-surname system may weaken further, sources familiar with the situation said.

"Expanding the use of original surnames is like a double-edged sword," said a member of regulatory reform council, which is headed by Hiroko Ota, professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. Jiji Press