Bills aimed at amending the Civil Code to allow married couples to have different surnames were again submitted to both Diet chambers Friday by the opposition parties.
This is the ninth time that the Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party have jointly submitted bills of this kind to the Diet in the past five years. On each occasion, the bills have been scrapped at the end of the corresponding Diet session.
The bills, if enacted, would allow married people to retain their own surnames if they so wish. They would also grant illegitimate children the same inheritance rights as those of legitimate children.
The move came after supporters of the dual-surname system in the Liberal Democratic Party failed to win sufficient party support to submit a bill allowing married people to maintain their own surnames if allowed by family courts.
It is doubtful that the opposition bills will be passed or even discussed during the current ordinary Diet session, due to its tight legislative schedule.