Rodney Webster <rgw_news001@knot.mine.nu> wrote in message news:<rgw_news001-7004E0.00522115072004@news01.so-net.ne.jp>...
> In article <2lgkl8FavkagU1@uni-berlin.de>,
>  "John Yamamoto-Wilson" <johndeletethis@rarebooksinjapan.com> wrote:
> 
> > But a Japanese person cannot officially
> > change surnames except a woman after marriage - and even then it has to be
> > done within a strict time limit (three months, if I remember rightly).
> 
> You are not quite correct - any Japanese person can apply to the family 
> court to have their name changed, but they have to have a very, very 
> good reason.  In the case of changing their given name, it has to be a 
> "good reason" (?????????R), while in order to change their surname there 
> must be some unavoidable reason (???????????¢???R).
> 
> The following page goes into detail about the legal issues involved, as 
> well as giving examples of cases where Japanese have been able to change 
> their name:
> 
> http://homepage1.nifty.com/lawsection/tisikibako/ujinohenkou.htm
> 
> Note that the second paragraph of the Koseki regulation #107 states that 
> "if a person married to a foreigner is to change their surname to that 
> of their spouse, they can apply within six months of getting married 
> without the permission of the family court."  Similarly, it goes on to 
> say that in the case of a divorce or their spouse dying, they can apply 
> within three months to revert back to the surname they had when they 
> changed to their spouses' surname, again without requiring the approval 
> of the family court.
> 
> The period within which a newlywed Japanese person can officially take 
> on their gaijin spouses' surname may differ if you are overseas and have 
> to apply to a Japanese embassy or consulate.
> 
> * Note that the regulation does not state the gender of the spouse, and 
> so theoretically a Japanese man marrying a non-Japanese woman could take 
> on her surname.  I have no idea if this would be allowed in practice.

Marrying a foreigner years ago AND not registering within the proper
time period is one good reason Hitomi Soga or the media may keep using
her maiden name.

But  there may be another simple reason. As with Mrs. Hasuike and Mrs.
Chimura, they did not become so or were not called so until they and
their husbands were in the country and registered their marriages at
their respective municipal offices in Japan. We may see a repeat with
Jenkins and Soga.