Tokyo starts accepting same-sex partnership applications

"To apply, at least one partner must be a sexual minority"

Attempting to get a same-sex listenership with someone isn't enough to prove that? Do they need to carry badges too?

ill be able to apply for municipal housing and be briefed on their partner's medical condition at municipal hospitals.

This is so, so SO important.

At least it's a step towards equal rights.

To apply, at least one partner must be a sexual minority

Educate me here, wouldnt both partners be considered "sexual minorities"? Makes no sense to have this provision included in the requirement for registering a partnership.

Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriage

A poll done last year had same-sex marriage support in Japan at 65% while those against it were at 22%, up from 41%/37% in 2015. Among people in their 20s and 30s support was as high as 86% and 80% respectively:

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP3P7DSCP3MUZPS003.html

A small step. But, a step none the less. It opens the door, and takes that first step over the threshold, so that more steps can be made beyond it.

will be able to apply for municipal housing and be briefed on their partner's medical condition at municipal hospitals

Ok, and how the Immigration will be viewing this change?

Move with your partner (some married for years abroad) into a 都営アパート to start your life together just to be humiliated by the immigration saying they dont recognize same-sex relationship. If they plan to change this policy (to look good abroad or for whatever reason), immigration should be one of the top priorities.

I guess it’s a step in the right direction. But I’m confused about the person in the article saying “society recognizing us as husband and wife.” I think it meant to say recognize us like husband and wife. And correct me if I’m wrong but if a Japanese person is in a same sex relationship with a foreigner whose home country recognizes same sex marriage and they get married in that country, then there is a mirror order in Japan and Japan will legally recognize the couple as married. But that only works if one of the partners is foreign. Japanese same sex couples could get married in the US but Japan wouldn’t recognize it since both are Japanese.

And correct me if I’m wrong but if a Japanese person is in a same sex relationship with a foreigner whose home country recognizes same sex marriage and they get married in that country, then there is a mirror order in Japan and Japan will legally recognize the couple as married. But that only works if one of the partners is foreign.

To be legally married here, the foreigner would have to be included on the koseki tohon, and none of the folks I know, who were married in their partner's home country, are recognized here, and they have not been allowed to have their partner's names included on the tohon.

Do you have some link or law that supports what you wrote here?

Pointless toy certificates. Wasn't a couple legally married in US denied legal marriage recognition in Japan a month or so ago?

Totally meaningless certificate when it comes to applying for a permanent residence as a spouse of a Japanese national...

Japanese society has always had a strange relationship with the gay community.

The flamboyant Matsuko-Deluxe and Akihiro Miwa types are popular and widely accepted, but if your average salaryman told his parents he’s gay, or was found dressed in drag, 60% chance he’d be disowned.

Good news and a long time coming.

Hopefully everyone can enjoy happiness now.

EastmanToday  11:52 am JST

important thing to know.

so called "partnership" is not equal to marriage.

Excellent point. It is like a foreigner in Japan gaining PR. Close to being Japanese, but no cigar. And rightfully so.

The relevant fact remains:

Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriage

The flamboyant Matsuko-Deluxe and Akihiro Miwa types are popular and widely accepted, but if your average salaryman told his parents he’s gay, or was found dressed in drag, 60% chance he’d be disowned.

These are relatively "new" celebrities, and the "gay" celebrities on TV here have been around more than a generation.

Japan accepts it on the surface, but only if it's not "their" relative.

Funny thing about it though, is that until the US took over, and put it's Judeo-Christian laws into place here, Japan was a much, much more open country with regards to the human body and sexuality.

Thank MacArthur for all the ambiguity and "shame" about sex here!

Japan once again tagging along behind the west without asking themselves whether this is really good for society.

Lord DartmouthToday 03:37 pm JST

Japan once again tagging along behind the west without asking themselves whether this is really good for society.

You think Japan just blindly follows the west and doesn't think for itself, or that the people here don't have their own opinions? That's pretty funny, considering how often Japan has said NO to other countries, e.g., about whaling and the comfort woman issues.

Besides, if you think Japan should be thinking for itself instead of following the opinions of foreigners, then why are you making an argument for how they are wrong to allow this?

well.... as a minority of one, whose mode of presentation, let's say, is not 'standard issue', I have found complete acceptance by all and sundry in Japan, whereas when I lived in both England, and Australia, the same was a magnet for all manner of abuse, physical and otherwise.... so for me, Japan is accepting, and not just on the surface, as some here have suggested....

Prior to western influence, being in a gay relationship was widely accepted since promiscuity with any gender wasn't chastised; hence, why there was no separation between men and women in public bathhouses. Seems like Japan is going back to its roots of a boundless sexual haven. Adios closet!