Transgender News: Risa Kawakami Files Lawsuit
As anyone who has been paying attention knows, the last few years have been very difficult for transgender people. Across the world, transgender rights are under threat, and while this is most apparent in the USA and TERF Island (formerly known as the UK), Japan is far from immune from transphobia.
However, that does not mean that transgender folks are taking it lying down. In the face of online harassment and attacks, the fightback is real, and nowhere is this more visible than in the recent news that trans woman Risa Kawakami isn’t just dragging her abusers online: she’s dragging them to court.
Who is Risa Kawakami?
Born in 1982, Kawakami knew from a young age that the gender she was assigned at birth didn’t match who she really was. Although she spent her school years acting “manly,” in order to avoid being bullied, she always felt that she was like Ranma, from Rumkiko Takahashi’s らんま1/2, but who had not yet been splashed with cold water. Then, one day in high school, when she saw a trans woman on television, she suddenly realized, “that’s it!”
She went on to work in the Jordan Pub, an Osaka bar famous for trans women workers, both as performers and as bar staff. Indeed, this was the same bar that Japanese transgender icon Ai Haruna worked at early in her career. In 2005, aged 22, Kawakami had fully transitioned, and was legally recognized as a woman.
However, despite transitioning, she still experienced difficulties both within and outside of her community. After leaving her work in the nightlife industry, working as a teacher, and meeting her husband, she became active in trying to advocate for transgender people in the wider community. Last year, she successfully ran to be an assembly member in Shimamoto, Osaka, where she grew up, running as a member of the Japanese Communist Party.
Cause of Action: Why Kawakami is Filing the Lawsuit
Despite her election campaign being a success, Kawakami was subjected to a torrent of abuse both during the campaign and after she won her seat on the assembly. In response, she has filed suit against one particular Nagoya-based man in his 50s who used his social media — most notably Facebook and Twitter (sometimes known as X) — to post defamatory, discriminatory and libellous statements about Kawakami.
Among the outrageous statements that the poster made, he accused Kawakami of being a “fake assembly member pretending to be a woman even though he’s a man,” and a “cross-dressing perverted man who don’t know when to give up.” Following Kawakami’s victory, he posted, “the man has stolen a woman’s seat.”
Kawakami is suing for ¥2 million (approximately $12,500 at the time of writing) in damages, both for severe psychological distress and for fueling further hatred online.
Support for Kawakami
Kawakami saw an outpouring of support for her lawsuit when she made her filing in court on 13 April, with 50 people coming to the court to hear her speak and show her that she was not alone in her battle for fairness.
During the press conference, Kawakami, speaking to the crowd, said: “Political participation by those directly affected by prejudice is meaningful, especially in terms of making minorities in society more visible.” She added, “The concentrated attacks against transgender people running for office are extremely malicious and illegal, as they infringe upon the right to run for public office. I want to demonstrate through this trial that what is unacceptable is unacceptable.”
Kawakami is being represented in the case by Shun Nakaoka, who has previously been successful in bringing defamation cases before the court and winning substantial compensation for the victims. At JGG, we hope that Kawakami will also be successful, and that transphobes in Japan will take notice that hatred has no place in Shimamoto, Osaka, or anywhere in Japan.
