Diet Panel Starts Deliberations on Dual Surname Bills

Jiji Press

12:39 JST, May 31, 2025

Tokyo (Jiji Press) — A committee of the House of Representatives on Friday began deliberations on three bills submitted by opposition parties related to a selective dual surname system for married couples.

At the day’s meeting of the lower house’s Judicial Affairs Committee, the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japan Innovation Party and the Democratic Party for the People respectively gave summaries of their bills.

This was the first deliberation in 28 years at the committee on legislation for a selective dual surname system for married couples.

The bills submitted respectively by the CDP and the DPP are designed to revise the Civil Code to allow married couples in the country to choose the same or different surnames.

As ways to decide children’s surnames, the CDP bill calls on married couples to decide these at the time of their marriage. The DPP bill proposes that children have the same surnames as the first registrants on the family register, which parents would select at the time of their marriage.

JIP’s bill is aimed at revising the family register law to introduce a system in which maiden names are recorded in the family register as commonly used names.

None of the three bills are expected to be passed during the current Diet session, as they are unlikely to gain majority support at parliamentary votes.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party skipped submission of its own bill in the current Diet session, as the party contains supporters and opponents of a selective dual surname system and did not reach a conclusion on whether to introduce it.