Japan is the only country in the world that requires spouses to use the same name, but after decades of inaction, appetite for change is building

  • tiredofsametab
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    9 months ago

    I told my wife she could keep her name (the spouses don’t have to have the same name if one is a foreigner), but she wanted to change. I had planned on eventually obtaining Japanese citizenship and wanted to take her maiden name (rare) and add a kanji that sounds like part of my last name to form my Japanese name which she could then take if she wanted. That would still be years off (after my parents pass) if I did it. She still uses her maiden name for everything at work except the official paperwork.

    Also, FFS, let foreigners have a kouseki while we’re at it so we’re not locked out of things requiring our own.