Japanology Plus 2016-05-05 - Family Crests

Compared to its East Asian neighbors, Japan is a country with a huge diversity of family names. One of the main reasons for this is that the majority of family names held by Japanese have a relatively recent history, dating back only as far as 1875, and a law passed as part of the sweeping administrative reforms of the Meiji era (1868–1912). In order to enable efficient taxation, the law, one of many steps towards modernization that followed the end of feudal rule and the opening of Japan’s shores to foreign influence after several centuries of isolation, decreed that all citizens were required to take family names.