Editorial: Japan must build society respecting various lifestyles as family types diversify

As Japan embraces increasingly diversifying family structures, there is a need to bring about a society where an individual's freedom of choice is respected.

There are people facing a range of disadvantages as they are not legally recognized as family members under Japan's marriage system.

One typical example is couples wanting to be recognized as legally married partners while retaining their premarital surnames. Japan is said to be the only nation in the world where married couples are required to share the same surname.

Yukari Uchiyama, 57, and Yukio Koike, 67, a common-law couple living in Nagano Prefecture, are campaigning for Japan's adoption of a selective surname system for married couples.

The couple was once legally married and Uchiyama was forced to change her surname. Recalling the experience, she reflected, "I was confronted with a sense of discomfort and a feeling of loss."

While she could use her maiden name as a business name at her workplace, she was asked to use her husband's last name in public documents and on other occasions. She became keenly aware that her last name, which she had grown accustomed to, was no longer her name.

Unchanged mindset and systems

Among various forms of public opinion, a majority of respondents are in favor of selective surnames for married couples. However, politics has been slow to act on the issue. While the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice recommended the introduction of selective surnames 29 years ago, the report has since been put on the backburner.

This is because there persists a deep-seated mindset that family values, where a man and a woman form a family, share the same surname, and bear and raise children, are considered a Japanese tradition.

Emiko Ochiai, a professor at Kyoto Sangyo University who specializes in family sociology, points out that such an image of a family that people have taken for granted "was formed in the midst of modernization, specifically during the postwar era."

Under the Meiji Civil Code that went into effect in 1898 during the Meiji era (1868-1912), the system of the male head of a household leading the family was adopted.

After World War II, the present-day Constitution was introduced, providing for equality under the law and respect for individuals, and the Civil Code was accordingly amended. The previous family system was abolished and equal rights for men and women were put in place, but the common surname system remained.

According to Ochiai, women's employment rate was high in pre-modern Japan, yet in modern society where industrialization progressed, division of labor by gender emerged, where husbands are expected to earn money outside homes while their wives take care of household chores and raise children.

During Japan's rapid economic growth, rising numbers of people become engaged in manufacturing and service industries in urban areas, spurring the population influx from rural areas, while nuclear families increased and the division of roles between men and women took root.

The shape of a family, however, has since drastically changed.

With changes in their awareness, more women have come to play active roles in society. Behind this was the global movement for female empowerment.

After the burst of Japan's economic bubble in the early 1990s, wage growth became sluggish, compelling an increasing number of women to work to support household budgets.

While there were many households with full-time homemakers until the 1980s, there were about three times as many dual-income households as the other group in 2023.

However, more than half of female workers are nonregular employees. As they keep busy with domestic labor, many tend to be forced to opt for part-time jobs. Women also tend to get paid less than men.

Ochiai explains that while society as a whole should be engaged in child-rearing, nursing care and other forms of care, such tasks have been forced upon women. As awareness about the importance of society's involvement didn't spread among its members, "women have suffered the brunt of the distortion," she noted.

Supporting individual choices

Various systems in Japan are no longer in step with the changing times. Pension plans and tax deductions were modeled on households with full-time housewives, yet they are failing to align with the current realities.

There are also more and more people who cannot be categorized as what was considered a general family form -- couples with children.

A survey on the household structure in 2020 showed that single-person households made up 38%, outnumbering couples with children. The figure is forecast to climb to 44% in 2050.

The rapidly aging society has given rise to elderly people living alone. There are also many people who choose not to marry due to difficulties making ends meet and concerns for the future, or not wanting to get married.

Such people face the risk of getting socially isolated, making it necessary to establish human relationships not relying on kinship and create places they can belong to.

LGBTQ people and other sexual minorities are raising their voices to call for new forms of families. It is a human rights issue, as sexual orientation and gender identity are not something one can alter at their own will.

There has been a spate of court rulings declaring the current system disallowing same-sex marriages to be "unconstitutional" or "in a state of unconstitutionality" in lawsuits filed by same-sex couples.

The form of a family changes with the times and social trends. It is crucial to build a system that broadly accepts various lifestyles and supports them.