Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A record number of female candidates stood in the 2024 Japanese election. Richard A. Brooks/AFP via Getty Images For centuries, ...

TOKYO – A group of Japanese citizens has filed a lawsuit challenging a civil law that effectively stops women from keeping their surnames when they marry. The 113-year-old law requires married couples ...

Japan is the only nation where married couples must use the same surname. Critics say it violates women's rights and, unless the rule is scrapped, all Japanese could be surnamed Sato in 500 years.

Asuniwa Representative Director Naho Ida, left, and others talk at a press conference about matchmaking parties for people with the same surname in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, March 5, 2026. (Mainichi/Ayaka ...

For centuries, women entering marriage in Japan have been bound by the Confucian notion of personal sacrifice for the good of the family – and that has extended to their names. Encouraged by a sexual ...