Although efforts are few and far between, it would be unfair to say that the LGBTQ+ cause has not evolved in Japan over the last couple of decades. From the first legal recourse to changing genders in 2004, to the possibility of legal same-sex partnerships in 2015, things are slowly moving forward.
Here are 10 politicians who have made things better for LGBTQ+ people in Japan.
1. Kanako Otsuji
About Kanako Otsuji
Kanako Otsuji was the first openly gay member of the Japanese Diet, in 2013. She belongs to the Constitutional Democratic party.
In 2005, she greatly participated in allowing same-sex couples to be able to rent housing in Osaka from the Osaka Prefectural Housing Corporation. This was soon after she published her memoir Coming Out: A Journey to Find My True Self, thus becoming Japan’s first openly lesbian politician.
She and others in her party are actively working towards marriage equality, anti-discrimination laws, and making it easier to change one’s legal sex.
“Let’s raise our voices together. Change will not occur if we remain silent.”
2. Aya Kamikawa
About Aya Kamikawa
Aya Kamikawa was the first openly transgender person to run for office and win, after her 2003 election as one of Setagaya ward’s municipal representatives. She presented without filling the gender marker on her application, and officially was part of the male elected officials, but she stated that she would work as a woman.
For context, while surgeries were never outlawed, it only became possible to change one’s legal gender in Japan from 2004. Aya Kamikawa did so in 2005.
Learn more about what it’s like to be transgender in Japan!
Her values are to improve rights for women, children, elderly people, handicapped people, and LGBT people. Though no major legal changes were enacted during her time in office, Setagaya was the second ward in Tokyo to allow legal same-sex partnerships in 2015.
“I decided not to pretend to be an ordinary male anymore, but try to be who I truly am. I changed my gender, the reason was because I knew that I was different and I could feel that between my body and heart there was no harmony. But it wasn’t easy at all, it is thanks to my father who encouraged me by telling me to do whatever I think is right.”
3. Taiga Ishikawa
About Taiga Ishikawa
Taiga Ishikawa was the first openly gay man to be elected to the Japanese House of Councillors (or either chamber of the Diet), in 2019. Previously, he was the first openly gay man to run for leadership of a party, when he ran for Social Democratic Party party chairmanship in 2013.
He came out in 2002 through a memoir, Where is My Boyfriend?, marched at several Pride Parades, and appeared on NHK’s Heart-to-Heart.
Check out our list of Pride Parades throughout Japan!
He founded the gay male support organization Peer Friends in 2004 while serving as a secretary to SDP chair Mizuho Fukushima.
“Since the early 2000s, the issue of same-sex marriage has progressed leaps and bounds. It will happen within the six years of my term, I am sure.” – About the legalization of same-sex marriage
4. Wataru Ishizaka
About Wataru Ishizaka
Wataru Ishizaka had a similar beginning to Taiga Ishikawa. Both were elected at the same time as ward councilors, respectively for Nakano and Toshima wards, in 2011.
He is also the first member of the Nakano ward council to have a degree in Developmental Disorder Education. This is especially interesting due to the intersectionality of neurodivergence and queer identities.
In 2017, he participated in creating the LGBT municipality Parliamentary League. It seeks to spread regulations and measures to safeguard the civil liberties of sexual minorities to local authorities all over the state over local assembly.
“There’s the whole family system … – a father, a mother, children, and the inheriting of assets. Conservatives don’t want to break this system down.”
5. Tomoya Hosoda
About Tomoya Hosoda
Tomoya Hosoda became the first transgender male to be elected for city council in 2017, when he was chosen for the city council of Iruma, Saitama, for The Democratic Party. He has never hidden that he was a transgender man, wears it proudly on his sleeve, and uses it as part of his campaigning.
His values are that of better acceptance of diversity, wanting to tackle ageism (in both directions), ableism, and gender and LGBT discrimination.
“The image that most Japanese have of transgender people is based on the entertainers who dress as women on television shows here. The image I get is that they are laughing at these people—they are comical characters. But there is much less knowledge and understanding of a woman making the transition to becoming a man.”
6. Ayako Fuchigami
About Ayako Fuchigami
Ayako Fuchigami is the first openly transgender person to hold a prefectural assembly position in Japan since her election in 2019.
She is part of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. She is an elected member in Hokkaido.
“I want to return the favor to those who have supported me by working hard to create a society in which LGBT can be active.”
7. Mizuho Fukushima
About Mizuho Fukushima
Mizuho Fukushima has been the head of the Social Democratic Party of Japan from 2003 to 2013, and since 2020.
Although she has not enacted any specific policies herself, the party advocates for the legalization of same-sex marriage, as well as supporting feminist politics and other values such as the opposition to capital punishment. She is a strong anti-nuclear activist.
“The gap between rich and poor has been growing in all parts of our society. We’re facing a problem if, in a competitive society such as ours, there are an increasing number of people who can’t compete.”
8. Taro Yamamoto
About Taro Yamamoto
Taro Yamamoto is the founder and current leader of the anti-establishment political party Reiwa Shinsengumi, created in 2019. He also served in the House of Representatives from 2021 to 2022.
Though he has not personally done a lot for LGTBQ+ people, his party has very strong views about LGBTQ+, minorities, animal, and disabled rights.
Taro Yamamoto is a former popular actor.
9. Tomoko Tamura
About Tomoko Tamura
Tomoko Tamura is the head of the Japanese Communist Party, and was a member of the House of Councillors from 2010 to 2024.
Although she has not personally done a lot for the LGBT community, her party has long stood for LGBTQ+ equal rights as well as bridging the gap between men and women in society. It also advocates for pacifism.
10. Taro Kono
About Taro Kono
Taro Kono served as a minister nine times between 2015 and 2024.
Although he has not personally done anything for LGBTQ+ right in Japan, he is an elected official of the ruling party in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party. While the party is generally opposed to the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights such as same-sex marriage, Taro Kono responded “yes” to a poll by activist Gon Matsunaka to the prompt “agrees with legalizing same-sex marriage” in 2024.
It is quite a major thing for a representative of the leading party of Japan to present such a succinct, positive response on the topic of same-sex marriage.
Final Thoughts
There are still many things to be done for LGTQ+ individuals, whether it be legalizing gay marriage and adoption, or facilitating changing one’s gender.
Thankfully, some politicians, from their actions, affiliation, or mere existence, have made things move forward and improved visibility. Hopefully the wishes of Taiga Ishikawa, and others, will be realized soon.