Aso blamed by AFP

Aso rejects girl's passport plea
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's foreign minister on Tuesday rejected a 16-year-old's impassioned plea to have a passport embossed with her father's surname, not that of her mother's abusive former husband.

I think this article is a bit misleading.

The law says children born within 300 days of the mother divorcing her husband should be recognised as those of the former spouse.

True, it should be changed, and it is the diet who is responsible for changing.

"I don't want to go on the school trip with the passport bearing the name of a man who would beat up my mother, a man who has nothing to do with me," she said, as quoted by news reports.

Sure, she does not want that.

Aso replied, according to the ministry official, "I tried, but it's difficult to change the law."link

I am not a fan of Aso, but if AFP wants to blame the law, it should blame the diet.
Aso is now rumored to be the next PM. I guess AFP does not like Aso.

Domestically Aso is okay but internationally he has drawn a lot of criticisms; for instance, he was once the director of Aso cement that is alleged to have exploited the Chinese and Korea employee during WWⅡ；The argument is that he became the directer after the war, but he should have done something about it to compensate it.
I am not sure how Aso will deal with the issue, but it seems he has many enemies from abroad.