A new simulation suggests that all Japanese citizens will share the family name ‘Sato’ (「佐藤」) in just over 500 years time – unless one of the country’s laws gets updated, the Guardian reported. This modelling, led by economics professor Hiroshi Yoshida, was part of a bid to modernise civil code dating back to the late 1800s.
Yoshida acknowledged that his Sato projection relied on several assumptions, including that use of the last name would increase by 1.0083 percent each year (as it did last year). He said the simulation’s objective was to draw attention to the issue of an inconvenient, outdated law – rather than present a realistic future scenario.
Japan is the only country in the world that requires spouses to share the same last name. It can be either party’s name, but in the vast majority of cases the woman forgoes her maiden name to take her husband’s.
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The government is reportedly facing increasing pressure to change the law around last names, mainly due to the inconvenience changing one’s name puts on a person – and typically on women. Machiko Osawa, a professor and specialist in labour economics at Japan Women’s University, has described the situation as “an antediluvian status quo” enforced by “old-fashioned patriarchal attitudes”.
Yoshida described a nation of Satos as beleaguered by a slew of downsides, including inconvenience and the loss of both family and regional heritage. He also said that everyone having the same last name would “undermine individual dignity”.
“I don’t think that would be a good world to live in,” the Tohoku University professor noted.
Sato is currently the most common surname in Japan, accounting for 1.5 percent of the total population (Suzuki is second)
