So-Shi : to establish the surname (=Shi) / Kai-Mei : to change the second name (=Mei)

February 11, 1940 was National Founding Day of 2600 in Imperial era. On this auspicious day, the revision of the civil law in Korea and Taiwan was done. In this revision, the people in Korea and Taiwan might exchange their name to Japanese-style if they want, It is called So-Shi (to establish the surname-Shi ) Kai-Mei (to change the second name-Mei) in Korea and Kai-Sei-Mei ( to change the surname-Sei and the second name-Mei) in Taiwan. Sei and Shi mean "surname" in Japan, and Japanese use them as same meaning. Mei means "second name".

Why was it Sou-Shi �ito establish the surname-Shi ) instead of Kai-Sei�ichange the surname-Sei) in Korea? Because this difference can not be understood, this system is misunderstood very much and reputation is very bad in both Korea and Japan.

The reason is that the meaning of surname is quite different from Japan to Korea. Japanese surname is a name of a family, and a couple has the same surname. Therefore, when they marry, either man or woman changes his or her surname. The surname of Korean is the tribal name of the father and can not change throughout the life. The marriage of man and woman who belong the same tribe and have the same surname, can not be forgiven by the law. This item was left by this revision of Korea civil law of 1940.

By this item, when the couple will marriage, they had to confirm the surname of a partner. Therefore, even if people will change their surname to Japanese-style, they must leave their surname of Korea type in the census register. Therefore Governor official defined Japanese-type surname as "Shi" and Korean-type surname as "Sei", and solved this problem. Namely, people must use Japanese-style surname formally, and Governor official left the surname of Korea-type in the census register. Therefore, it was Soshi (to establish the surname-Shi ).

The surname for a married couple in Taiwan is basically a separate , but the marriage of man and woman who have the same surname is forgiven. Therefore, there is no problem that the couple has same surname and to change the surname, . After the war, North Korea forgave marriage of man and woman who have the same surname of Korea-type. Japan was criticized that they deprived Sei (the surname of Korea-type) from a Korean, but they established a system of Japanese-type surname-Shi to keep Sei (the surname of Korea-type).

A notice to establish the surname-Shi was in 6 months and when there was not a notice, the surname-Shi was decided the same as Korean-type surname-Sei of the head of a household. Then Shi (Japanese-style surname") of a wife became the same as Shi (Japanese-style surname) of her husband, but her Sei ( Korea-style surname) did not change. The family who established Shi(Japanese-style surname) was called 80%, but it was 100% precisely. The families who send the notice in a time limit were 80%.

In addition, it was permission system in Taiwan, and families who were admitted a change of the surname, did not reach 2%. It was under the China incident in those days. So the Governor-General of Taiwan made examination severe, because it would become hard to distinguish a Japanese or a Taiwanese. On the other hand, the Governor-General of Korea recommended to establish Shi (Japanese-style surname). Because it was the first step to make a same appearance of a Japanese and a Korean, to unify Japan and Korea.

I feel mysterious, because the Taiwanese criticized Japan a little, and the Koreans criticized strongly, as a result.