Upper House Elections and Unfinished Business
Following the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) loss of an outright majority in the Lower House in October 2024’s election and parliament set to end its current legislative term on June 22, the Upper House now stands to be dissolved as it completes its elected term. What direction voters will turn is unclear, but the upcoming Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, also to be held on June 22, may point to some possibilities. The Upper House election is likely to be held on July 20.
Among parliament’s unfinished business, as noted in our article from December, is the state of limbo the country’s legal sex change law has been placed in. Following the Supreme Court finding a major piece of it to be unconstitutional, namely the requirement for surgical sterilization, the onus was placed on parliament to rectify the situation. Despite an earlier flurry of proposals for changes just following the decision, in the latest session of parliament no apparent efforts have been made to deliberate or propose alternative legislation. This effectively leaves the existing law in place, but with unenforceable provisions. Given that eyes are much more focused on the economy and foreign diplomacy, it may be too optimistic to believe the issue will be addressed any time in the near future.
One hot button issue deliberated throughout the current session of parliament has been the issue of separate surnames for married couples, with a total of three bills, all from minority parties, which headed to deliberations on May 30 [1]. Currently, the country’s laws only allow married couples to use one or the other’s surname once they are married, and in the vast majority of cases, the female spouse is the one to give up their name for their husband’s. This creates both a psychological as well as a bureaucratic burden on women, as not only do many feel they are being asked to give up their identity, but also shoulder the burden of changing their names on all of their documents, from bank accounts to business cards. Proposals to expand the use of maiden names for common use while officially registering surname changes have also been made. Unfortunately, as of March, under half of legislators support separate surname usage [2], meaning progress may not be seen before the Upper House elections.
We bring this up because this issue is somewhat related to another important one: marriage equality. The connection comes from the fact that both spousal surnames and marriage equality would require changes to the country’s family registry laws. Changes allowing for separate spousal surnames could pave the way towards acceptance of further changes to the law in the future, including allowing for people of the same legal sex to marry.
Japan has yet to debate marriage equality beyond occasional mentions during the current legislative session. This, despite Prime Minister Ishiba’s calls to consider such legislation. Numerous court cases have already found that the inability for same sex couples to marry is unconstitutional, with the latest in the Tokyo High Court having wrapped up arguments on May 20 [3]. The decision is expected to be delivered in November of this year.
At present, no court dates appear to have been set for arguments at the Supreme Court for any of the five cases already decided at the High Court level.
Potential Bathroom Bill Moves Forward within the LDP
Sankei [4] has reported that the potential bathroom bill that we have reported on here is set to be presented to the LDP’s internal bill committee. Although this appears to mean that the bill may not reach the floor of parliament this session, it does signal that the bill’s sponsors, the Parliamentarian Alliance to Protect All Women’s Peace of Mind and Safety and Fairness in Women’s Sports, still see it as having a chance at passage at some point. As we’ve noted previously, the main focus of the bill is on “anatomical features” in places like public baths, which is a situation already covered by existing government guidance. However, the full language of the bill does mention restricting bathroom usage among voluntary measures facilities could take. It is unclear at this time what influence developments overseas, such as the UK Supreme Court ruling, will have on the bill’s final language or its reception in Japanese parliament, should it eventually be submitted.
New Reproductive Health Law Tabled
A new reproductive health law governing who would be able to receive IVF treatment and under what circumstances was tabled in the run-up to the close of parliament [5]. The proposed law had already come under criticism for limiting recipients of sperm and egg donations to “legally married couples. This would effectively exclude single parents and same sex couples from consideration. Additionally, the bill limited the extent to which a child born from donated sperm or eggs would be allowed to know anything about the donor [6]. The law would have required both for the child to be 18 or older before receiving the information, and for the donor to agree to allow their information to be revealed. It would have also disallowed surrogate births.
[1] 「立・国別姓法案、30日審議入り 旧姓使用の維新案も」Jiji, 29 March 2025 [2] “Some 44% of Japanese lawmakers back selective dual surname system” Japan Times, 8 March 2025 [3] 「【速報】同性婚東京第2次訴訟の控訴審が結審…判決は11月28日に 同種訴訟は2審の5件全てで「憲法違反」の判断」日テレニュース, 20 March 2025 [4] 「トイレ、更衣室…女性スペース守る法律を 自民が20日に法案審査へ LGBT法施行で」産経新聞, 16 May 2025 [5] 「生殖法案、審議入り見送りへ 立民など反対、廃案が濃厚」 Jiji, 6 June, 2025 [6] 「同性カップルやシングル女性などは対象外 不妊治療のルール定めた法案へ強まる反発「実情まったく反映されていない」」西日本新聞, 4 June, 2025PHOTO: ノボホショコロトソ, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
