午夜剧场

This book examines issues surrounding de facto marriage and separate surnames for married couples from a sociological perspective, through interview surveys conducted with individuals in de facto marriages.

Among those involved, many desire legal marriage but are forced to choose de facto marriage as a last resort to maintain separate surnames. The increasing visibility of de facto marriage is often cited as an example of the "diversification" of families. However, there is also an aspect where this arises due to a legal system that excludes diversity. This book re-examines the framework that views legal marriage negatively and demonstrates the importance of considering the recognition of diversity beyond the binary of legal marriage versus de facto marriage.

Chapter 1 considers the historical transition of discourse on de facto marriage, but while gathering materials, my own assumptions were overturned. This was the premise that legalism regarding marriage is a conservative argument, while de facto marriage is a liberal argument. However, from the Meiji era until the mid-1980s, de facto marriage was consistently a conservative argument, while liberal researchers advocated for the thorough implementation of legal marriage. Here, I examine what this structure—the exact opposite of the present—means, and urge a reconsideration of the view that sees the law as inherently oppressive.

The current pros and cons surrounding the selective system for separate surnames for married couples cannot be understood through a simple scheme like conservative versus liberal. There are those who support selective separate surnames because they value traditional values, while there are liberals who take an opposing stance because they aim to abolish the marriage system and the family register (koseki) itself. In Chapter 2, I discuss the location of the legitimacy of the selective separate surname system by organizing the complicated arguments surrounding separate surnames and untangling their complexities.

In the final chapter, I examine the issue of "internal liberal conflict" regarding the legislation of separate surnames and same-sex marriage. Here, I argue that liberal researchers are required not to deny the value of "family" or "marriage," but to reconstruct those values anew. In the face of the challenge of overcoming isolation and division spreading through society, how should we resist the narrow "conservative" discourse praising the family that repeatedly emerges? I hope this book provides one clue toward that end.

Yuichiro Sakai

Shisawa-sha

192 pages, 1,980 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.