Devil Gets His Due in Japanese Name Uproar
The Family Court on Tuesday granted the wish of a 30-year-old snack shop operator who wanted to give his son a Japanese first name no one would forget: It ordered the Akishima city office to register the boy as Akuma (Devil).
Shigeharu Sato and his wife, Ayako, 22, agreed that their first child, who was born July 30, should have that unusual name. But when they tried to register it, as is the law here, officials balked.
Their case, which attracted widespread attention, brought into question whether the government could apply its widespread practice of “administrative guidance,” or intervention without specific legal authority, even to the process of naming children.
The Family Court, in effect, said it could--but ruled in favor of Sato on a technicality only.
The battle may not be over, however. City officials said they plan to seek the Justice Ministry’s intervention.
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