Most couples dream of marriage lasting a lifetime. But for one pair in Tokyo, their love story comes with an unexpected twist — they divorce and remarry every three years.
The reason? Their surnames.
When they first started dating, the woman wanted to keep her maiden name because of a nickname tied to it.
But her boyfriend dismissed the idea, saying: “Don’t women normally change their surnames to the guy’s?”
That sparked tension. Neither wanted to give up their identity, so they came up with a radical solution: alternate surnames every three years.
They married in 2016, drawing straws on their honeymoon in Vienna to decide whose surname came first.
He won round one. But problems soon arose — she wasn’t allowed to use her maiden name at work abroad due to security rules, leaving her depressed.
So, after three years, the couple divorced and immediately remarried — this time under her name. Three years later, they repeated the cycle again.
They don’t actually want to split up. But in Japan, married couples must legally share the same surname, and courts have repeatedly denied requests for separate names.
Divorce and remarriage became their only workaround.
A 2021 Tokyo District Court ruling may have given them hope: it recognized that couples married abroad could remain legally wed with different surnames.
But the process is complicated and expensive, requiring them to remarry overseas and file again in Japan.
For now, the couple has decided to keep up their unusual tradition — ending and renewing their marriage every few years, all to protect their sense of identity while staying together.