世論 What Japan Thinks

This subject is one that seems to polarises opinions in Japanese media, with those opposed arguing along the lines of having the law in place to allow separate names will mean everyone will use it, leading to a collapse of the whole of Japanese society. However, this recent survey into separate names of husbands and wives found most in favour, but very few planning to take advantage of it.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 16th of October 2009 498 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.6% of the sample were male, 36.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, and 33.1% in their forties.

Separate names is by default a fact for international marriages, due to the family register system in Japan – a Japanese-only couple have one family register document for the two of them, so as the document only supports a single surname, couples must have the same official name. However, foreign residents have a separate registration system, so we and our spouses can keep our surnames, although there is a six-month window where one can easily make the change. My wife didn’t change (no particular reason, just too much hassle, I support), but when she renewed her passport she got given a double-barrel with my surname in brackets after hers.

Research results

Q1: Are you married? (Sample size=498)

	All	Male N=282	Female N=216
Yes	40.2%	41.1%	38.9%
No	59.8%	58.9%	61.1%

Q2: Are you currently employed, including part-time, casual, etc? (Sample size=498)

	All	Male N=282	Female N=216
Yes (to SQ)	78.9%	84.4%	71.8%
No	21.1%	15.6%	28.2%

Q2SQ: When one marries, divorces, etc one must change their surname. If you had to, would you want to change the name you use at work? (Sample size=393)

	All	Male N=238	Female N=155
Would really want to	6.9%	6.3%	7.7%
Would perhaps want to	25.7%	24.8%	27.1%
Would perhaps not want to	50.9%	47.1%	56.8%
Would not want to at all	16.5%	21.8%	8.4%

Q3: Which would you want to do: same surnames or different surnames? (Sample size=498)

	All	Male N=282	Female N=216
Different surnames	6.0%	2.5%	10.6%
Same surnames	52.8%	58.5%	45.4%
Either is fine	41.2%	39.0%	44.0%

Interestingly, married people were slightly less keen on having different names and significantly keener on having same names, 61.0% versus 47.3%.

Q4: Currently, a bill is being drafted in order to allow married couples to select different surnames. Do you support this? (Sample size=498)

	All	Male N=282	Female N=216
Support strongly	13.7%	9.2%	19.4%
Support to some degree	41.6%	40.4%	43.1%
Oppose to some degree	29.3%	31.2%	26.9%
Oppose strongly	15.5%	19.1%	10.6%