Akatombo Web Log
Thursday, March 11, 2004
News in Japan
Opposition surfaces to dual surnames for married couples <- Link removed because it no longer points at a story
Does anybody see a reason why the Japanese government should have anything to say about this? We are completely baffled. I suspect that Mr. and Mrs. Daniels-Sueyasu might take issue with this particular governmental position. What do you think, is the government overstepping their bounds in regulating things like this? Why?
- Posted by mj
Why? Because they are idiots. Where is the evidence that having different surnames break up a family? It’s completely unfounded.
Many women keep their own name or hyphenate it for professional reasons. In many fields your name is your “brand”. Nobody wants to maintain two names - one professional and one personal.
Besides there are other reasons for keeping your maiden name - ties to your family, your past - it’s not easy to give up a name that you’ve been living with for many years.
It also goes back to the archaic concept of a women being “kept” after she gets married - of belonging to the man by taking his name. Is this perhaps what lies behind such backward regulation?
I wonder how this will effect me has an Australian citizen married to a Japanese national. Can they impose this ridiculous regulation on someone who holds a passport from a country in which you can choose to have any bloody name you #### well like?
March 12th, 2004 01:01 AM - Posted by Sako
Having run afoul of this requirement a number of times in my family (where I alone have a different surname), I can sympathize with MJ’s situation.
For one thing, I wouldn’t wish my last name on anyone-least of all my family!
More than that, though, is the fact that I don’t want my kids to stand out any more than they already do. Having a surname written in katakana is a sure-fire way to get bullied at school, I’m sure. Why should my kids have to put up with that?
Recently, I’ve been having all sorts of trouble with this different-family-names business, none of which would ever be an issue in the States--not even for a split second.
March 16th, 2004 01:31 PM - Posted by UltraBob
Hmmm, I can’t see anything wrong with your last name. That beautiful girl who sat across from me in geometry class in high school had the same last name as you, and there was nothing wrong with her.
I would wish my family name on my children, though mine is a name that is very likely to induce bullying, especially if we live in Japan because my family has a history that I am proud of, and our last name is a reminder of that. On the other hand the fiance has different views on this issue and she normally wins. It seems to me that names have become less important for men and more important for women in recent (the last 50 or so) years. Does this mean anything profound?
March 22nd, 2004 12:15 PM