More people identify as LGBT as social awareness grows in Japan: study

Yes, live your life as you wish, but please stop thinking people MUST accept your choices and respect them. Respect is earned, not given out like free toilet paper. And nobody MUST accept everyone/anyone.

Times change, and with time attitudes eventually change.... even in Japan.

@nandakandamanda

@Bigyen

I agree with both of you. Perhaps news of the survey spread throughout the LGBTQ community and so they responded in large numbers. Thus resulting in a greater percentage of respondents compared to thier actual numbers in society at large.

Agreeing with BigYen here. This is NOT a percentage of the total population of Japan, but a percentage of respondents to a gender identity survey of people who go online.

We do not even know what headline Dentsu gave the survey in their appeal for volunteers.

Quote: Of the 60,000 people aged between 20 and 59 who responded online...

So although it is quite likely that more people are paying more attention than before to latent tendencies inside themselves, the numbers could well be higher or lower.

I don't understand homophobia. I think it's really,really stupid but especially in Japan's case. A country who has two separate genres of Japanese animation dedicated to same sex couples shouldn't be homophobic

There is no way on earth that 9% of Japanese are LGBTQ.

I have my doubts as well given it's about twice the percentage that occurs in most other countries.

It is very typical of the LGBTQ lobby to inflate thier numbers in order to elicit public sympathy and eventually have thier unions legally recognized.

No it isn't; that is an outright lie spread by the rabidly homophobic, Right-Wing Evangelical Christian movement in the US. Don't fall for their propaganda.

And since when did numbers matter when it comes to basic Human Rights, like the right to get married?

Are you seriously suggesting that Human Rights should only be applied to groups that have more than a certain number of people in them??

Something tells me that 1/11 is an exaggeration. If true, Japan has one of the highest percentages of LGBTQ people in the world. I don't think so.

Uuuhm -- Alfred Kinsey proved in 1948 that roughly 10% of the adult population were actively homosexual throughout their lives, so the figures for Japan are about the same as everywhere else on Earth.

Where did you get the idea that 1/11 is a high figure?

There is no way on earth that 9% of Japanese are LGBTQ.

I thought that you were going to say the real number was far higher!

Most Japanese live in the closet, as this survey shows. Also, male homosexuals are usually depicted as highly effeminate mincing jokes in Japanese culture, so people don't recognise them.

There is no way on earth that 9% of Japanese are LGBTQ.

There's something fishy going on here. It is very typical of the LGBTQ lobby to inflate thier numbers in order to elicit public sympathy and eventually have thier unions legally recognized. Either they are behind this so called survey or the criteria for LGBTQ affiliation was very broad, something like even having thoughts of same sex attraction makes you a member of this group. Either way, I don't believe the results in the least.

10%, 6%, 1%, is still a huge number for any country. These people deserve to live their lives, in peace, without any more hassles than any other group may have.

Every group or individual gets hassled in life at some level. Nobody gets a hassle free life, but the govt shouldn't be making the life for any peace-loving group harder.

Feeling like a ze today.

Something tells me that 1/11 is an exaggeration. If true, Japan has one of the highest percentages of LGBTQ people in the world.

10% has been the number I've heard around the world. 1/11 is less than 10%.

So, Gambare, you met a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender 'guy' in a bar?

Gambare: Yeah, that's a RARE one...shoulda' taken a few pictures.

Wait. LGBT can't be a "guy"??

Something tells me that 1/11 is an exaggeration. If true, Japan has one of the highest percentages of LGBTQ people in the world. I don't think so.

Gambare: Yeah, that's a RARE one...shoulda' taken a few pictures.

So, Gambare, you met a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender 'guy' in a bar?

I recently met an LGBT in a bar in Tokyo. I chatted to him and found out he was actually a funny guy. The LGBT and I even sang a karaoke song together in the bar! Whilst I think marriage is for man and woman, I think LGBT people should be tolerated and respected.

Bugle Boy can self-identify as anything he/she/it/they/them wants at any time.

Didn't you get the memo? Sexual orientation is fluid for many people. Saying anything different is abusive and harmful.

LGBT are certainly on the rise. Last year 0% of me identified as LGBT. Now, 100% of me does.

Of the LGBT respondents, 65.1 percent said they had not told anyone about their sexuality, indicating the difficulty of coming out in Japan.

Two thirds had no told anyone at all about their feelings. But I am sure that the number that are fully "out" is far lower than the 3% who had actually told someone.