Society

According to a study conducted by Professor Hiroshi Yoshida, if Japan doesn't change the law on surnames for married couples, in 500 years, all Japanese people will be called Sato.

This economics professor who works for the Research Center for the Economy and Society of the Elderly at Tohoku University realized that the number of surnames in Japan is decreasing every year.

The reason is that Japanese law requires all married couples to adopt either the husband's surname or the wife's surname. 500,000 couples get married each year in Japan and in almost 95% of cases, it's the women who take their husband's surname.

However, the surname "Sato" is the most widespread and currently represents 1.5% of the population. The number of people with this name increased by 0.83% between 2022 and 2023. If the surname law isn't changed and the name "Sato" continues to grow at the same rate, Professor Yoshida calculated that half of the Japanese population will be called "Sato" by 2446 and that it could reach 100% by 2531!

"Having everyone have the same surname would not only be inconvenient but also undermine individual dignity," Yoshida said. "It would also lead to the loss of family and regional heritage associated with surnames."

Another study showed that if the separate surname system were allowed, 39.3 percent of single people said they would still want to adopt the same surname as their spouse. Using this figure, Professor Yoshida came to the conclusion that by 2531 only 7.96 percent of Japanese people would be called "Sato."

Hiroshi Yoshida added, "I have made it a goal to put issues related to the surname system into numbers. If everyone becomes "Sato," we may have to be referred to by our first names or by numbers. I don't think we can call this a good world to live in."

(MH with MYukio/Source: The Mainichi/Photo: Philippe Daman)