A year later, in April 2022, the permitted age for marriage will be unified to 18 for both men and women. In Japan, the adult age was set at 20 years old in 1876. The adult age will be re reduced to 18 for the first time in 146 years. In connection with this revision of the law, the legal martial relationship between men and women has also changed equality to 18 years old.

   On the first place, there is no clear medical basis for legal marriage age of 18 years for men and 16 years for women. Internationally, the adult age is 18 years or younger in 141 countries and regions. With this historic revision of the Civil Code, I hope that the discussion og gender equality in Japanese society will become more mature.