“選択せんたく的てき夫婦ふうふ別姓べっせい導入どうにゅうで戸籍こせきなくなる” SNSで根拠こんきょない投稿とうこう拡散かくさん

Posts containing unfounded information related to the selective married couples separate surname system are spreading on social media.

A common claim seen in many posts is that if the system of separate surnames for married couples is introduced, the family registry will be abolished. Some of these posts have been viewed more than 17 million times, but there is no clear basis for this claim.

Regarding the “selective married couple’s separate surnames,” which has become one of the issues in the House of Councillors election, posts linking this topic to the “family register” can be seen on social media such as X, Instagram, and Threads. On X alone, posts containing both “separate surnames for married couples” and “family register” have exceeded 160,000, including reposts, in the one-month period up to the 16th.

The selective married couples separate surname system is a system that allows a married couple to choose whether to have the same surname or different surnames when they get married.

Calls for this system increased, and in 1996, the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice submitted a draft amendment to the Civil Code that included the option for married couples to have different surnames. However, due to strong opposition even among members of the Diet, it was not realized.

The government has considered introducing the system twice so far, but has not submitted a bill, citing divided public opinion.

On the other hand, the family register system is used to record and certify family relationships of Japanese nationals from birth to death.

Currently, when a couple gets married, a family register is created for them, and any children born to them are also entered into that family register.

According to the Ministry of Justice, if the system is introduced in line with the 1996 recommendation, married couples who choose different surnames and their children will still be included in a single family register, just as they are now.

The Ministry of Justice states, Even if the system were to be introduced, the function and importance of the family register would remain unchanged, and introduces examples of how the family register would be described on its website.

The Name column under Persons listed in the family register in the family register book has been changed to Full Name, and each is listed accordingly.

Professor Noriko Mizuno of Hakuoh University’s Faculty of Law, who was involved in drafting the 1996 report, said, “The koseki system is a convenient system that serves as a register for nationality, residency, and family relations, and it is not realistic to abolish it.”

When the recommendations were discussed in the past, the idea of abolishing the family registry system was never brought up at all, and it has been pointed out that legislation for optional separate surnames for married couples does not necessarily entail a fundamental revision of the family registry system.