Comments on: Keiko Chiba opposes death penalty, favors dual surnames

By: helical

helical — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:11:10 +0000

*groan* （ノ∀`）

By: LB

LB — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:25:41 +0000

Doesn’t he have a kid name “Minium”?

Or was it “Ment”?

Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all weekend…

By: Lance

Lance — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:18:07 +0000

Bobby Ologun’s official last name is Konda 近田 (his wifes last name).
Making his true Japanese name 近田ボビ (Bobby Konda)

By: LB

LB — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:55:28 +0000

Yeah, well, you can’t have everything I guess….

By: Adamu

Adamu — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:42:40 +0000

This election just might have saved Asahara Shoko’s life. He will be my neighbor in Kosuge forever

By: RMilner

RMilner — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:17:33 +0000

My wife’s passport simply has both names in.

It was renewed in the Embassy in London, which may be more flexible about the situation.

By: dizzy

dizzy — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:38:28 +0000

Very cool lady. She’s so awesome.

By: The Overthinker

The Overthinker — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:26:14 +0000

As mine has. I figured that would be easiest in Japan, though it has sometimes caused people to ask if we are in fact married. We were told she could change it any time during the first six months, and after that it would go through the normal channels for such things.

By: LB

LB — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:39:47 +0000

I was just going to make that exact same point. Also, if a Japanese woman marries a non-Japanese, she can keep her maiden name – there is nothing forcing someone to change their name on their own family register.

By: sublight

sublight — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:55:11 +0000

A correction to the AFP article: women aren’t forced to take their husband’s family name. Rather, couples are required to have the same last name. In maybe 10% of cases, the husband takes the wife’s family name.