Japan has granted 93 foreigners permission to bring their same-sex spouse: survey

What is your problem with two consenting adults in love being married? What exactly is your issue with same-sex marriages?

Fear, religious reasons, ignorance and upbringing, at a guess.

@Burning Bush

Other than your hyperbolic what-ifs? What is your problem with two consenting adults in love being married? What exactly is your issue with same-sex marriages?

Excellent news. Another step towards equality.

Would Japan recognise a Sudanese man bringing in his 10 year old wife as a legal spouse?

Why do some posters always equate same sex marriage with paeodophilia?

Polls show that 60 or 70 percent of Japanese agree with gay marriage (including totally gay gokai). The problem is the old politicians who can't move with the times.

@Burning Bush

Polygamous marriages are totally legal in 58 countries. I'm curious if men from those countries are permitted to bring in their perfectly legal multiple spouses into Japan and if they are recognised as such upon entry.

Japan does allow that. I do not remember the channel and program exactly, but I had watched a TV programme recently, which showed a very rich Afghan used car exporter.. who had more than one wives and many children..all living in a luxurious house in Japan. The man has been living in Japan for many decades too... So Japan does allow them

In order to be eligible, the couple must both be nationals of countries where same-sex marriage is recognized. However, the same visa cannot be used to grant residence status to a partner of a Japanese national, an inconsistency which is likely to spark debate.

In essence, the Japanese govenment is recognising legally binding same sex mariages . . . . but only outside Japan, or inside Japan if they don't involve Japanese people.

Double standards!

Unfortunately, I know a few people whose same-sex spouse was not allowed into Japan under this exemption. It doesn't seem to be applied evenly, and whether the application is accepted seemingly depends on how whoever reviews it interprets the rule. What Japan needs is a real equal rights law, allowing same-sex marriage. It's criminal to keep married people, or even couples who aren't married, apart out of some discriminatory notion that same-sex partnerships aren't equal to opposite-sex ones.

Non-Japanese, myself included, don't have an automatic right to move here and change things just because we want to.

You're right. We can't even vote.

But as people living in the country, we have opinions, and as tax-payers, given permission to live her permanently, some of us even have the right to voice those opinions.

To get the right to change things, we would have to take on Japanese citizenship, getting the right to vote. For those unwilling to take that step, we're left just with our opinions.

It will be interesting to see if the courts will recognize this as a double standard. If they do, then it might be another way to prove that their marriage laws need to be updated. It seems like Kono is recognizing the potential, but Kamikawa is remaining neutral which might be a bad sign. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Change is hard to accept for some. Running in circles and crying “but...but... what if...” doesn’t make it any easier chicken little.

In order to be eligible, the couple must both be nationals of countries where same-sex marriage is recognized. However, the same visa cannot be used to grant residence status to a partner of a Japanese national, an inconsistency which is likely to spark debate

And this is why so many of my gay friends are now living in Canada.

Despite my not being gay I had many friends here that were and because they could not marry or get Visas for their non Japanese partners ( most Canadians I sort of introduced) they had to leave.

I know several that would like to return with their spouse to live in Japan.

Here is hoping things will change and not just non Japanese couples will get the same rights.

Nagoya ChrisToday 11:17 am JST

What about allowing a sovereign nation to uphold its own traditional values?

Cultural relativism has its limits, and even the UN notes this:

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/UniversalityReport.aspx

I think it is safe to say that child marriage, or any kind of forced marriage that overrides the consent of either or both parties, is immoral. Consent of a person who is able to give consent (i.e., not a child) is key.

Talking about countries which allow polygamy really is setting the bar low.

@Nagoya Chris

If you read my comment properly these couples include one Japanese partner.

Non-Japanese, myself included, don't have an automatic right to move here and change things just because we want to.

It is not just the non Japanese partner wanting to return to Japan it their JAPANESE spouse that would like to live in their own country and not be forced to live outside.

It's not the job of the immigration people to legalize gay marriage in Japan for Japanese people, but good to see that they recognize it for others from other countries.

Until Brexit (Jan 1 2021), there was a similar "penalize the natives" double standard in the UK where an EU citizen could live in the UK with a non-EU spouse on a spouse visa (EU law) but a UK citizen would have to pass a guaranteed income threshold for the spouse to get the spouse visa (separately enforced UK law). After Brexit, the income threshold applies to everybody.

It’s their country, not yours. They can grant or deny passports, visas and stay permissions whenever they want, to whoever they want and in any number they want.

In Russia, you can kidnap a 14 year old and marry her. But same sex couples are persecuted.

So having separate rules for each country is the solution.

It is not my country, and I do not have voting rights to change things. Let the Japanese nationals decide.

As Sven Asai says: "It’s their country, not yours. They can grant or deny passports, visas and stay permissions whenever they want, to whoever they want and in any number they want."

Totally agree with this comment!

Japan surely will not allow forcibly married 14 year olds into the country just because it’s legal in Russia.

Thry definitely should allow same sex couples from Russia even though it’s illegal there!!!

(Sorry for ‘nerding’ out @1:30p, it was necessary for clarification.) Best wishes to the 93 ‘non-natives’ and their spouses. We hope “Everyone” can be included, in ‘whatever’ direction they choose for their happiness in ‘adult’ life.

What about allowing a sovereign nation to uphold its own traditional values? If you say it is ok, fine, but you must also say that it is ok for people hailing from places where polygamy (for example) is allowed to be allowed to immigrate here with all of their spouses.

Pukey2

Your comment proves my point. What is culturally acceptable to some is unacceptable to others. So, anything is permissible as long as it is acceptable to oneself and anyone who happens to disagree must be bigoted or prejudiced.

Ah, plus ça change!

@Antiquesaving

Yes, when it involves a Japanese citizen it takes on a different dynamic.

Antiquesaving

I am sorry for your friends but rules are rules. I am a supporter of LGBT rights, women's rights, animal rights etc but I am also a supporter of countries determining their own laws and rules. Non-Japanese, myself included, don't have an automatic right to move here and change things just because we want to.

I don't care about the UN, the UN is not Japan. And I didn't mention child marriage, I mentioned polygamy.

@Strangerland

That is correct but one has to wonder how even citizens can change things. As a Briton, I have seen many protests and demonstrations against government policy (the Iraq war being one example) but ultimately to no effect. That is not to say that ordinary citizens shouldn't try to bring about change when confronted with something that they consider to be unjust, of course they should, but one is left to contemplate what good any of it does.