FAMILY REGISTRY
Keywords:  FAMILY LAW, FAMILY REGISTRY, ILLEGITMATE CHILDREN, INHERITANCE

Japan’s Ministry of Justice has made revisions such that when a child is born out of wedlock that fact is no longer denoted in the family registry or the residence certificate. While studying the family structure in the registry will still reveal the situation, it is no longer registered as the Japanese version of “illegitimate.” As these days a very high percentage of young people are not getting married, there has been some argument that these derogatory registrations limited the willingness of couples to give birth, an urgent priority of the Japanese government. In fact, less than 2% of births in Japan are out of wedlock, one of the lowest rates among developed nations. Thus there is hope that these changes may encourage the Japanese to get it on. Earlier, the Tokyo District Court had held that such discriminatory registrations were a violation of privacy rights. Recommendations had earlier been made that Japan change such discriminatory registrations by the UN Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in July, 2003 as well as the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child in January, 2004. The Ministry of Justice is also considering a revision of the Civil Code which presently discriminates in inheritance matters against “illegitimate” heirs, who can receive only half as much as legitimate heirs.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved Attorney Roderick H. Seeman

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