Oct 27, 2017 (Japan Times) - A man and a woman plan to jointly sue the government over claims that a law forcing couples to use the same surname upon marriage caused them psychological suffering, sources have said.
Yoshihisa Aono, the 46-year-old president of software development firm Cybozu Inc., and a woman in her 20s will file the suit with the Tokyo District Court next spring, seeking a total of ¥2.2 million ($19,400) in damages, according to the sources.
Both Aono and the woman adopted their spouse's surname after marriage but are demanding the right to use their pre-marriage name through a change to the Family Register Law.
While Japanese citizens who marry foreign nationals have the option to keep their surname, the law does not allow that freedom to Japanese couples. Divorcees, meanwhile, can choose whether to retain the same surname regardless of nationality.
In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a Civil Code provision that requires married couples to use the same surname for official matters.
But Tomoshi Sakka, the lawyer representing the two plaintiffs and others in a similar lawsuit to be filed with the Okayama District Court said the "disadvantage is obvious compared with Japanese marrying a foreign national." He said the law should be supplemented so that it allows married people to use their pre-marriage name when signing official documents even after changing it in their official family registry.
Aono claims that he built trust and status in his business using his pre-marriage name but has been forced to use the surname he adopted after marriage on public documents, according to the sources.
