Japan women's minister opposes plan to allow keeping of birth names

Tamayo Marukawa among 50 conservative MPs to urge local body not to support policy change

Japan's minister for women's empowerment and gender equality, Tamayo Marukawa, is among a group of conservative MPs who have opposed a legal change that would allow women to keep their birth name after marriage.

Japan is one of only a few industrialised countries where it is illegal for married couples to have different surnames. The country's civil code, introduced in 1896, requires married couples to share a surname and while it does not stipulate which name they should adopt, in practice women take their husband's name in 96% of cases.