Yellow light on optional separate surnames for married couples to be passed in this current Diet session: Democratic Party for the People changes course, Constitutional Democratic Party panics

The "yellow light" is flashing on the passage of a bill to realize optional separate surnames for married couples in the current Diet session. The conservative faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, which is opposed to the introduction of the system, is trying to make a comeback by calling for the expansion of the use of maiden names as common names, and the Democratic Party for the People, which had been in favor of the system, has also becom…