Family Law in Japan - Marriage

Marriage

Marriage of Japan's formality takes the form of civil marriage. A marriage is effected by filing notification of it. A wedding ceremony performed by a religious or fraternal body is not a necessary element for a legal marriage.

According to Articles 731–737 of the Civil Code,

• A man before attaining 18 years of age, a woman before attaining 16 years of age, may not marry. (Article 731)
• A minor shall obtain the consent of at least one parent to marry. (Article 737)
• Bigamy is prohibited. (Article 732)
• A woman may not remarry within 6 months of the day of dissolution or cancellation of the previous marriage, except the case in which she both gets pregnant before the day and gives birth to the child. #1 (Article 733)
• Lineal relatives by blood, collateral relatives within the third degree of kinship by blood #2, may not marry, except between an adopted child and his/her collateral relatives by blood through adoption. #3 (Article 734)
• Lineal relatives by affinity may not marry. #3 (Article 735)
• An adoptive parent or a lineal ascendant of an adoptive parent may not marry with an adopted child, his / her spouse, his / her lineal descendant, or a spouse of his / her lineal descendant. #3 (Article 736)

1. It is considered that this remarriage prohibition is to avoid confusion as to the identification of the child's father.
2. between one and one's sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece by blood.
3. It may be a case in which this prohibition shall apply after the termination of a family relationship between the two parties.

If one or both in the couple is a Japanese national, the marriage is recorded in a family register with one concerned Japanese at its head.

It's a rule in principle that the two shall have the family name in common following their marriage. However, if one of them is a non-Japanese, this rule does not apply. They can use one of the spouse’s names as their family name or keep their names after marriage. If a Japanese spouse changes his/her family name to his/her spouse's, the name change must be filed within 6 months of the marriage. In a family register, a foreigner doesn't have his / her own entry, while he / she can be recorded in it as a spouse, for example.