Changing wife last name to single foreign one (husband having multiple surnames)

Hello guys.

This is a follow-up question regarding my last post on last name change for my wife through family court (JP wife, me foreign resident, a baby coming soon). This of course involves changing the last name registered in our koseki.

I was born in Latin America and so by local tradition I have two surnames (one from my dad and one from my mom).

If having a foreign surname is hard enough, having two is even worse, and so we would like her and our child to bear only my first last name (e.g. me John Smith Longname would like for them to take only the “Smith” surname). However I’m afraid that family court may disregard my request as my last name in Japan is considered as “Smith Longname” as a whole.

Has anyone from the multiple surname community been able to do this? Or did you have to give all your surnames?

by juansito1987

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like