FEATURE: As to the reasons good Japanese people happily got their wife’s last identity

Shu Matsuo Blog post is actually men whom phone calls himself an effective feminist. However, he was not born good feminist, and for the very first twenty eight many years of their lives the guy never tried to know very well what it actually was like to be a great girl and a woman when you look at the good patriarchal community.

He then found their now-spouse Tina, whom trained your which he might have been socially conditioned to see things a particular method. He previously their feminist waking.

Men feminist Shu Matsuo Article takes time go around Harajuku, Tokyo, along with his young man to your . (Pictures courtesy of Tina Matsuo Blog post) (Kyodo)

“The greater number of We been aware of gender prejudice, the greater I spotted they during the day to day life,” new thirty-five-year-old Tokyo business person said when you look at the a recently available interviews with Kyodo Information.

“Eg, this new (prerequisite for) women-only instruct cars, the newest porno what do Angeles city women think of american men? from inside the benefits areas, gender-certain pronouns, fuzoku (sex service), and stuff like that. Gender discrimination try every where. Which discrimination damages all of us,” he told you.

Matsuo Post invested most of his teenage years on Joined Says while the guy gone back to Japan he experience a keen name crisis once the the guy felt the requirement to meet with the stereotypical image of a beneficial Japanese people, chauvinistic and expected to match a mold.

He took the opportunity to real time and you may operate in Hong-kong, and you may fulfilled Tina Blog post here within the 2014. She actually is a self-announced feminist who confronted the newest gender stereotypes he discovered growing upwards in The japanese, a terrible vocalist regarding gender equality.

When the one or two , neither ones desired to surrender their beginning brands. They thought that surnames are part of individual and you will family relations identities, and you can modifying it needs to be an individual’s individual parece.

Japanese legislation currently requires that parece. Inside marriages between a beneficial Japanese national and you will a foreign federal, but not, what the law states will not incorporate.

If you find yourself an excellent Japanese men-female partners marriage, there are not any inside-ranging from options such hyphenating the last names, looking after your household members term as your middle label otherwise merging both of the history brands to the an alternative identity.

Matsuo Post few Shu and Tina twist in front of a keen fruit orchard during the wife’s home state out-of Minnesota towards the . (Images due to Shu Matsuo Post)(Kyodo)

They grabbed Tina 15 minutes locate her Western name changed out of Tina Post to help you Tina Matsuo Post in the usa, it got Shu seven months discover their identity lawfully changed away from Shuhei Matsuo to Shuhei Matsuo Blog post from inside the The japanese.

She aided him read the guy doesn’t need to feel macho so you’re able to be one or stick to the relationship script you to claims he will pay

Tina followed the brand new non-hyphenated twice-barrelled title earliest, up coming Shu grabbed their identity. Heading twice-barrell gave both people in the happy couple the opportunity to preserve their beginning brands and you can know their new marital position.

Shu Matsuo Post along with his young buck for the partner Tina’s home condition off Minnesota on . (Images due to Tina Matsuo Blog post)(Kyodo)

“Extremely dudes never need to proceed through which. Just why is it thought and unquestioned it is a female just who requires a beneficial man’s name on marriage? If that is their particular possibilities, great, however if perhaps not, why would we predict a woman to shed their identity when you look at the like out of a man’s?”

He had been unprepared into legwork one used — upgrading their passport, driver’s license, bank card, airline usage credit, current email address membership, business credit, and all sorts of the new administrative burdens one to scarcely slide on the male in lots of societies

Since he understands how our world provides used a norm out-of devaluing ladies who are profoundly and sometimes subconsciously established for the our lives, there is absolutely no going back, he says. In the course of time, his passion logs became a self-blogged book entitled “We Took Their Label,” that was released during the December.