日本可能是世界上唯一一个需要配偶用相同姓氏的国家，但现在日本女人开始呼吁废除这条古老的法律，由于这项规定给她们的职业生涯带来了很多困扰。
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For Akiko Saikawa, the administrative nightmare began soon after she married.
对于Akiko Saikawa来讲，行政噩梦在她结结婚以后不久开始。
The office worker from Tokyo had to go through dozens of procedures to change her name on her passport and other documents, as well updating her social media accounts. All because she had been required, by law, to change her surname as a married woman.
这位来自东京的工薪族需要历程数十道程序，才能更改她的护照和其他文件上的名字，与更新她的社交媒体账户。这所有都是由于根据法律规定，已婚女人需要更改姓氏。
Couples in Japan are free to choose which surname to take when they marry, but in 95% of cases, it is the woman who changes her name, often with reluctance.
在日本，夫妻结婚时可以自由选择姓氏，但在95%的状况下，是女方改姓，一般是不情愿的。
"It was very time consuming and inconvenient,” Saikawa says. “But the most troublesome part was that my name on our family register changed to that of my husband. That means I have had to make it clear to employers that I want to continue being referred to by my maiden name at work.”
“这很耗时和不便捷，”Saikawa说。“但最麻烦的是，我的户籍上的姓氏变成了我老公的姓氏。这意味着我需要向雇主明确表示我期望在工作中继续用我的娘家姓。”
Now attention is turning to the archaic law that forbids married couples from using separate surnames, and the almost three decades of inaction after a government panel drew up proposals to change part of a civil code first adopted in the late 1800s.
目前大家开始关注一项古老的法律，该法律禁止已婚夫妇用不一样的姓氏，而在政府小组起草了改变19世纪末启用的这部民法典部分内容的提案后，近30年来一直没采取任何行动。
Inconvenience aside, campaigners say the insistence on using the same surname is another sign of Japan’s lack of progress on gender equality.
除去不便以外，活动人士表示，坚持用相同的姓氏是日本在性别平等方面缺少进展的另一个迹象。
Machiko Osawa, a professor and specialist in labour economics at Japan Women’s University, blames the lack of progress on “old-fashioned patriarchal attitudes” in the ruling Liberal Democratic party and among supreme court justices “who insist on supporting an antediluvian status quo”.
日本女子大学的劳动经济学教授和专家Machiko Osawa指责执政的自由民主党和最高法院法官们“坚持支持陈旧的父权主义态度”，将缺少进展归咎于这类原因。
"Newlywed women have to waste so much time changing their names on banking accounts, credit cards, passports and all other official documents. And for those who have established themselves as professionals, being forced to change their name is a denial of what they have accomplished. It sows confusion and subordinates them to men,” Osawa says.
Osawa指出：“新婚女人需要花费不少时间在银行账户、信用卡、护照和其他官方文件上更改她们的名字。对于那些已经在职场上打造了我们的专业形象的人来讲，被迫改名是对她们所成就非凡的否定。这种做法会导致混乱，并使她们屈从于男士。”
Locked out of hotel rooms
没办法进入酒店房间
After years of stalling, pressure is building on the LDP, not just from rights campaigners, but also senior business leaders who say the rule is proving an obstacle to Japanese firms that do business overseas.
日本自民党多年来一直拖延，不仅仅是遭到维权活动人士的重压，也遭到高级商界领袖的重压，后者表示该规定对于进行国外业务的日本公司构成了障碍。
Masahiko Uotani, chief executive of the cosplaymetics giant Shiseido, said he knew of female executives who had been locked out of hotel rooms or denied admission to meetings on overseas business trips because their ID didn’t match their surname.
资生堂的首席实行官鱼谷雅彦表示，他了解有女人高管由于身份证与姓氏不符而被拒绝入住酒店房间或被拒绝参加国外商务会议。
"The current system is becoming a barrier to career development for those who are internationally active,” Uotani said at a meeting of the Japan Business Federation, a powerful lobby group, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.
据《每天新闻》报道，鱼谷在日本商业联合会的一次会议上表示：“目前的体制对于那些在国际上活跃的人来讲，已经成为了职业进步的障碍。”
The federation, known as Keidanren, has collected testimony from other professional women who have fallen foul of the single-name requirement. One said that having to change her last name “is ruining my career as the academic papers I’ve written under my maiden name are not being recognised”, according to the Mainichi. Another said: “In some cases, my business name has not been accepted when signing contracts.”
该联合会被叫做经团联，已经采集了其他遭受单姓需要限制的职业女人的证词。据《每天新闻》报道，其中一位女人表示，被需要改姓“正在毁掉我的职业生涯，由于我以结婚以前姓写的学术论文没被认同”。另一位女人表示：“在某些状况下，我的职场名字在签订合同时未被同意。”
Now Keidanren has thrown its weight behind the campaign in a reflection of a shift in Japanese corporate culture. While almost 84% of companies allow women to keep their original surnames in the workplace, according to a 2022 survey by the Institute of Labour Administration, the extra documentation needed on overseas work trips continues to cause confusion.
目前，日本经团联支持这项运动，反映了日本企业文化的转变。依据劳动管理研究所2022年的调查，几乎84%的公司允许女人在工作场合保留我们的原姓，但在国外工作出差时需要额外的文件仍然引起困惑。
"I want it to be implemented as a TOP priority to support women’s working styles,” Keidanren’s head, Masakazu Tokura, said recently, declaring himself “bewildered” by the lack of progress since the ministry panel made its recommendation in 1996.
“我期望将它作为支持女人工作方法的最重要任务来推行。”日本经济团体联合会会长十倉雅和近期表示，他对自1996年部委小组提出建议以来的进展缓慢感到“困惑”。
While the government has allowed maiden names to appear alongside married names on passports, driving licences and residence certificates, Japan remains maybe the only country in the world that requires spouses to use the same name.
尽管政府已允许婚姻证件、驾驶执照和居住证上同时显示娘家姓和婚姓，但日本可能仍是世界上唯一需要配偶用相同姓氏的国家。
Conservative LDP members argue that amending the civil code would amount to an assault on traditional values by “undermining” family unity and causing confusion among children.
守旧派自民党成员觉得修改民法将对传统价值观构成一种攻击，"破坏"家庭团结并致使孩子们困惑。
Osawa, who is “not optimistic” that recent pressure will lead to a legal change, dismisses the family values argument as an “excuse for inaction”.
Osawa并不乐观，觉得近期的重压不会致使法律变革，他对家庭价值观的论点不屑一顾，觉得这只不过一种“无所作为的借口”。
"Japan’s porce rate is on a par with that of the UK and Germany, so the current law on names is not supporting family stability,” Osawa said. “Times have changed, and most households need a double income to make ends meet, so having a choice for couples to decide what name to go by makes sense, and it promotes gender equality.”
“日本的离婚率与英国和德国相当，因此现行的名字法律并不可以维护家庭稳定，”小泽说。“年代已经改变，大部分家庭需要双份收入来保持生计，所以让夫妻可以选择我们的姓氏是有意义的，它促进了性别平等。”
The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has urged caution, claiming last year that “various opinions among the public” meant more discussion was needed to win “broad” support for the change.
日本首相岸田文雄敦促各方小心行事，去年他声称“公众建议各异”，需要更多讨论来取得对这一变革的“广泛”支持。
Saikawa hopes other women do not have to navigate the bureaucratic maze she faced after marrying. “Having separate surnames would mean they would no longer have to alter their name dozens of times, reset their careers and rebuild the reputation they had established under their maiden name,” she says.
Saikawa期望其他女人不必像她一样在结婚以后面对繁琐的官僚迷宫。她说：“拥有不一样的姓氏意味着她们不再需要多次改名，重新开始职业生涯，并重建自己用结婚以前姓氏打造的声誉。”
"And they would be able to cherish a name that represents their family’s history and is a part of their own identity.”
“她们将可以珍视一个代表她们家族历史并成为她们身份的一部分的名字。”
重点词语
office worker工薪族;公司员工;办事职员
go through经过某过程历程，经受走重复，例行做翻阅，翻找，整理通读，彻查被通过，被批准
dozens of几十;不少
other documents其他文件;其他文档;其他单据;其他材料;其它单据
as well也;还
social media社交互联网媒介
by law依法;依据法律
surname姓;给…加姓
a married woman已婚妇女;已婚女子;已婚女性;有夫之妇
with reluctance勉强
英文来源：卫报