Tokyo is moving to introduce a same-sex partnership system, an announcement welcomed by many

Japanese LGBTQ rights activists on Wednesday hailed Tokyo’s move to introduce a same-sex partnership system as a huge step in their fight for equality in the only G7 country that does not fully recognize same-sex marriage. Emer McCarthy reports.

Japanese LGBTQ rights activists are hailing Tokyo’s move to introduce a same-sex partnership system as a huge step in their fight for equality, in the only G7 country that does not fully recognize same-sex marriage.

Tokyo’s governor Yuriko Koike announced on Tuesday (December 7) that partnerships would be allowed early next year and made legal in the fiscal year beginning April 2022.

The partnership system allows same-sex partners to register their relationship and gain some of the privileges enjoyed by married couples, like being allowed to rent places to live together and gain hospital visitation rights.

“I think it is very revolutionary. I think diversity will continue to progress, so I think what the Tokyo governor said was good.”

“In rural areas, there are long-standing cultures and way of living, so I think those kinds of things are kind of difficult to root in immediately. I think Tokyo can set itself as a good example, and that can spread nationwide.”

Activists have long lobbied for the capital to adopt the system, and pushed its efforts ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

LGBTQ rights activist Gon Matsunaka said the Olympics helped sway public opinion.

“We had the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and I think Tokyo is thinking about what to it should do in regards to the legacy of the Games. In fact, the United Kingdom legalized same-sex marriage after the London Olympics. In that sense, since Koike made the announcement in the year of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, in which ‘diversity and harmony’ was the theme, although she said she would introduce it next year, I think the Games had an influence.”

Activists say the next goal is making marriage possible, though this probably requires more local areas to adopt same-sex partnership regulations, creating enough pressure that the national government can no longer ignore it.