A man preparing for the happy occasion of his marriage was shocked when local officials told him that he would not be allowed to marry, as government records had him registered as the family’s eldest daughter.
The man, in his thirties, had apparently been registered somehow as a daughter in the “koseki”, the official census records which underlay much local bureaucracy in Japan.
The bungling officials excused themselves thus:
When did you notice?
“When the man came to us to register his marriage. It was a holiday so when someone came to process the documents, they discovered he was registered as ‘eldest daughter’.”
Why did it take you so long to notice?
“The koseki was never used. The man was identified as ‘male’ on his certificate of residence. His driving lisence used this document.”
Did he have a female sounding name?
“Not at all, it was clearly male. Somebody made a mistake copying his name into the koseki. He even had an elder sister, so the family ended up with two eldest daughters. It’s 100% our mistake.”
So his marriage still isn’t on?
“Based on the law, his records must be amended before he can marry. We tried to correct his birth certificate, but it had already been destroyed by us. We had to chase up his mother’s records, and consult with higher up; we hope to have it revised tomorrow.”
And the “eldest daughter’s” response?
“This has been infuriating. The section chief of the bureau came to my house, and explained ‘At the start of your life, there was an inexcusable mistake’ and was so apologetic I did so much as raise my voice, instead dealing with him in a gentlemanly way. I’ll be going ahead with the marriage registration soon.”
Via ZakZak.
What gets me is they know it’s a mistake. They know that they messed up. And they still won’t let the marriage take place until the records are fixed.
Way to ruin a wedding, assholes. If the man is smart (and he doesn’t seem to be, since he’s far too calm for a man who’s been informed that he can’t get married yet), he’ll go through with the ceremony and then just formalize it legally later. A friend of mine did the same thing with a goverment SNAFU regarding his citizenship. (He’s a citizen, she wasn’t, but for some reason he wasn’t listed as being one)
doesn’t anybody here question the fact that if he was female he couldn’t marry? does this mean that you cant choose to get married if your a woman?i’m lost here,ahh who cares, i’m male, why should I bother
if he insisted with the marriage it would be registered that his sister married his wife…dumass
Nah, he could’ve married a man.
Really funny, if he were gay, he could’ve legally married despite it being illegal. LOL
Legalize gay marriage and this wouldn’t have been a problem.
I find the legal definition of gender to be a silly and preposterous idea.
“…instead dealing with her in a gentlemanly way. Errr… him! Dealing with *him* in a gentlemanly way! Dammit!”
This is one of the many agreed upon drawbacks of living in Japan. It’s very much a bureaucratic hell. If you want to do something you’ve always got to get the permission of someone higher up. In fact, it’s one of my biggest peeves.