By SAWA OKABAYASHI/ Staff Writer
April 1, 2024 at 18:12 JST
A future 3-on-3 basketball game could see all players sharing the same surname, Sato, if Japan's same-surname system for married couples persists. (Provided by Think Name Project with support from Tokyo BB)
A study has found that unless Japan starts allowing married couples to have separate surnames, all Japanese people will share the same family name of Sato in about 500 years.
The number of surnames in Japan is decreasing every year due to the country’s unique law that requires married couples to share the same surname, according to a study by Hiroshi Yoshida, professor of economy at Tohoku University’s Research Center for Aged Economy and Society.
Everyone having the same surname “will not only be inconvenient but also undermine individual dignity,” said Yoshida. “This would also lead to the loss of family and regional heritage associated with surnames.”
About 500,000 couples wed annually in Japan, with nearly 95 percent of all brides taking their husbands’ surnames.
According to the study, the most common surname in Japan currently is Sato, which accounts for 1.5 percent of the population.
The study, conducted as part of a campaign to raise awareness about the issue of married names, found that the proportion of people with the surname Sato increased by 0.83 percent between 2022 and 2023.
If the current rule of married couples sharing the same surname persists, and the number of people named Sato continues to grow at this rate, then half of the Japanese population will be Sato in 2446, and eventually, 100 percent of the population will have the surname in 2531.
If the option of separate surnames is introduced, and assuming that 60 percent of married couples will choose to have separate surnames, the increase in people named Sato will slow to 0.325 percent per year.
In this case, the proportion of people named Sato will only reach 7.96 percent in 2531 and the diversity in surnames will be preserved, according to the study.
Business leaders are also calling for a change to the current system, with Japan’s largest business lobbies supporting the option of separate surnames for married couples. They argue that the current system creates barriers to business.
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