Everyone in Japan Will Share The Exact Same Name In The Future—Unless One Law Is Changed

On April 1, Japan’s Center for Aging and Society at Tohoku University revealed results from their study on the Japanese population, saying that the country will one day be made up of people with the same last name: Sato.

Sato is known for being the most common surname at present, accounting for 1.5% of the total population. The researchers determined that the proportion of Japanese named Sato increased 1.0083 times from 2022 to 2023 and will eventually make up half of the population by 2446. This will become the entire population by 2531, 507 years from now.

Main researcher Hiroshi Yoshida explained that it will be inconvenient to share the same surname as everyone else.

If everyone becomes Sato, we may have to be addressed by our first names or by numbers. I don’t think that would be a good world to live in.

— Hiroda Yoshida

He also claimed that it will negatively affect “individual dignity,” leading to the loss of family and regional heritage.

It will not only be inconvenient but also undermine individual dignity.

— Hiroda Yoshida

All this will not change unless there is a specific law that will be passed. Yoshida said that if married couples will be allowed to use separate surnames, the trend of having Sato as the only last name available will be avoided.

Japanese law currently dictates that married couples must choose one surname to keep, and it is the woman who does so in 95% of cases.

In a 2022 survey by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, only 39.3% of 1,000 employees aged 20 to 59 said they would share a surname even if they had the option of using separate ones. The rest preferred to keep their original names.