Pressure is increasing on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to recognize LGBTQ+ rights as the country prepares to host the G7 summit in May. Japan is the only country in the G7 that denies same-sex couples the right to marry, and LGBTQ+ activists are ramping up the pressure as the summit approaches. Kishida recently created a new government post responsible for LGBTQ+ rights and met with equality campaigners. However, he provoked anger by claiming that Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage was “not discriminatory” and that legalizing it would “fundamentally change society” and challenge traditional family values.
The government is also facing external pressure, with ambassadors from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, the US, and the EU calling on Japan to match its international advocacy for human rights with a domestic agenda that includes steps to protect its own LGBTQI+ communities. The US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, has also called for “clear, unambiguous” legislation to protect sexual minorities before the current parliamentary session ends in June.
Japan's prime minister has attempted to deflect criticism that his conservative Liberal Democratic party is trapped in a cycle of intolerance as the summit approaches. However, few believe that Japan’s moment in the international spotlight will take the country closer to allowing equal marriage. Kishida is hoping that planned legislation that promotes “understanding” of LGBTQ+ people – but which stops well short of legalizing equal marriage – will take the sting out of criticism that he has caved in to conservatives in his own party who are increasingly out of step with the public.
Around 250 municipalities, including Tokyo, have introduced partnership certificates for same-sex couples, but they are not legally binding, and same-sex couples can find themselves barred from visiting each other in hospitals and from gaining access to other services available to married couples. Japanese LGBTQ+ activists are demanding that the country enact an anti-discrimination law before it hosts the G7, and end the country’s unenviable status as the only member of the group that does not have a law protecting LGBTQ+ rights.
Meanwhile, same-sex couples like Akane Kousaka and her partner continue to suffer the legal inequalities in Japan. The couple has a “partnership certificate” issued by their ward office in Tokyo, but it comes with none of the legal guarantees afforded to married heterosexual couples – including the right to visit a spouse in the hospital. Kousaka said, “We might be able to get special permission, but we shouldn’t have to rely on other people’s goodwill… it’s not right.”