Japan’s civil war over surnames
Inventive schemes help women dodge inflexible marriage laws
FOR A COUPLE that has divorced three times, Uchiyama Yukari and Koike Yukio get along remarkably well. The two teachers, who live in the city of Nagano in central Japan, have never fallen out of love. Yet they have parted several times on paper, in order to sidestep a law that requires married people to have the same surname. Most of the time the couple lives happily outside wedlock. Each time they have a child they remarry (because that makes registering the birth simpler) and then divorce again.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Names and shame”
From the June 28th 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
Is Thailand heading for another coup?
The generals would be mad to try
Australia’s mushroom murderess is found guilty
The trial, with a plot stranger than detective fiction, has gripped the country
The Economist is hiring a Seoul-based researcher/reporter
We’re looking for a fluent speaker of Korean and English
Central Asia still has a complex relationship with Russia
But countries know their neighbour is a crucial partner
Welcome to North Korea’s Benidorm
The hermit kingdom’s new resort is for its own enjoyment, not foreigners’
Thailand’s prime minister has been suspended
And conservatives forces are circling her populist movement