TOKYO REPORT: A Decade On, Japan Steadily Warms to Same-Sex Partners

Tokyo, Feb. 16 (Jiji Press)–A decade has passed since Tokyo’s Shibuya and Setagaya wards introduced Japan’s first “partnership system” in November 2015, offering public recognition to LGBTQ+ and other sexual-minority couples. Since then, the system has spread across the country. Such systems are, however, based solely on local ordinances and do not confer rights equivalent to legal marriage. As lawsuits seeking recognition of same-sex marriage proceed in courts nationwide, municipalities and others continue to explore, through trial and error, how best to protect individual rights. According to a joint survey by Shibuya Ward and certified nonprofit organization Nijiiro Diversity, as of the end of May 2025 a total of 532 municipalities across Japan had introduced partnership systems, which now cover more than 90 pct of the national population. Over the past decade, more than 9,800 couples have received partnership certificates. Sumito Sakabe, who has been working to create LGBTQ+-inclusive spaces primarily in the Kansai region of western Japan, obtained official recognition of his relationship with his partner of about 14 years in 2018, when the city of Osaka launched its partnership system. Sakabe welcomed the move, saying he was “happy to have received social recognition” by entering into “a relationship that involves a third party–the local government.” Some couples choose not to register for the system because they do not wish to be publicly identified as participants. Sakabe himself has “never actually shown the certificate to anyone for any practical purpose.” Even so, he emphasized the importance of the system, saying he “can feel the municipality is on our side.” Under the system, the certificate can be useful in situations such as when applying for municipal housing, visiting a partner who has been admitted to a public hospital, or giving consent to surgery on a partner’s behalf. An increasing number of local governments are working to improve their partnership systems so they can reflect better the needs of the people they serve. In 2021, the city of Akashi in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, introduced a “partnership and family-ship system” that officially recognizes the relationships of two people who consider each other partners or family members. Under this system, children living with such couples are recognized as family members rather than merely “cohabitants.” Akashi was the first municipality in Japan to extend legal recognition this far, by certifying family relationships as well as partnerships. The city government publicly recruited specialized staff for a new department dedicated to preparing the system, and eventually hired two people with relevant experience. While launching consultation services and holding outreach lectures, the department identified a need among child-rearing couples to provide “proof of family status” to hospitals and other institutions. This discovery led to the formal establishment of the system. “People who cannot, or choose not to, marry but still need official recognition of their relationships are using this system,” a city official said, emphasizing the municipality’s commitment to protecting their rights as fully as possible. Similar systems have been introduced in other regions and continue to be updated and refined. Partnership systems do not confer property rights, such as inheritance, or impose support obligations, unlike legal marriage between heterosexual couples. Nevertheless, Shuhei Ninomiya, professor emeritus of family-related legislation at Ritsumeikan University, highly values the role these systems have played. “We have seen signs of growing acceptance of such (sexual minority) couples,” he notes, “including a series of court rulings that have found failure to recognize same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional and have granted crime victim compensation to same-sex partners.” Setagaya Mayor Nobuto Hosaka speaks proudly of the ward’s partnership system, describing it as being “connected to human dignity.” Despite ongoing challenges, such partnership systems have helped embed the principle of respecting people “as they are” into the community. Championed by those directly involved and supported by local governments, this principle has gradually taken root. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]