Outside of the major cases regarding marriage equality in Japan which we have been reporting on (with the latest case out of Fukuoka discussed here), there have been a few other stories that definitely deserve a look. The first is the story of a trans woman’s efforts to get unreasonable restrictions lifted on restroom usage in a government workplace and how she finally won. The second is a brief look at the state of trans legislation following the national election. Finally, we have the story of a person looking to remove their sex designation from the country’s Family Registry, potentially opening up a nonbinary option.
Trans Woman’s Workplace Finally Honors Supreme Court Judgement on Restroom Usage
On 11 July 2023, Japan’s Supreme Court found that an unusual requirement regarding bathroom usage for a transgender employee was a violation of her rights, and ordered the workplace, a government office, to remove the restrictions and allow her to use the women’s restroom on the floor she works on. Now, over a year later, the workplace has finally followed through. According to Kyodo, on 8 November, the government office announced that the restrictions would be lifted. [1] This follows a 22 September Asahi News report revealing that, one year after the Supreme Court decision, no effort had been made to alter or remove them. [2]
The following summarizes the case based on the supreme court decision, available here from the Japan Courts website (Japanese only).
The case stems from a request by a transgender woman, a government employee working at the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), to be allowed to transition on the job and work fully as a woman. The process of her transition, as outlined in court documents, included numerous steps over years. However, due to a medical condition, she cannot receive GRS, meaning that at the time she was unable to legally transition. This is because, until recently, Japanese law required sterilization as well as surgery to create genitalia that matched the target sex. Regardless, her workplace was willing to accommodate her in almost every way, with one exception: she was not permitted to use the women’s restrooms on the floor she worked on. Instead, she needed to use the restrooms at least two floors removed from her desk.
The reasons given for this requirement were ones often heard in these sorts of situations: there were “concerns”. From the court decision, it appears that these concerns were not voiced by any one person, and were in fact an interpretation by the office managers of facial expressions during a meeting where they announced the trans employee would be using the women’s restrooms. This eventually turned into a decision to have her use restrooms two or more floors removed from her desk, so as to minimize the likelihood of encountering coworkers in the restroom, although it needs to be repeated that no one had actually voiced opposition to her using the restrooms on her own floor.
One somewhat unusual thing revealed by the court documents is that the trans woman actually received a letter from a psychiatrist stating that she would pose a low risk for committing sexual assault due to lowered androgen levels. What meaning this could have for similar cases in the future is unknown, but the fact that it was mentioned in the court’s decision gives one pause. At the very least, it shows the levels some trans people seem to feel they need to go to in order to demonstrate they are not a threat to others.
The LDP suffer a major electoral loss, putting trans legislation on the backburner
While the bathroom decision is clearly welcome, it comes conspicuously after a large loss in the October 27 lower house election by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which may have derailed a number of their legislative initiatives. The LDP have held a nearly continuous majority in Japanese parliament in the post World War II era, making this recent loss both significant and historic. Among their initiatives were efforts to change the country’s law governing legal transition. Another was a bill which would seek to limit trans women’s access to single-sex spaces. We reported on both earlier, although in the interim the restrictions bill’s wording came to light revealing that it did indeed feature language regarding restrooms (although implementation and enforcement of restroom restrictions would, it appears, be voluntary). [3] It is now unclear what direction either piece of legislation will take. Since the election, priorities have clearly shifted to addressing more pressing issues such as the economy.
A petitioner asks, “Can we just get rid of sex designations on the family registry already?”
According to several outlets, on 13 December a petitioner in their 50s has asked a court in Kyoto to change how they are recorded in the Family Registry, removing references to their gender and simply listing them as the child of their parents rather than as a son or daughter. If the case prevails, it could pave the way to a shift in how the country records individuals in the Family Registry by removing or altering labels that use gendered language. [4]
When someone with Japanese citizenship is born, they are registered in their family’s Family Registry. They will be placed under the entry for their parents (or, oftentimes, mother if born to a single parent). However, sex assigned at birth is not explicitly listed. Rather, individuals are added as “third son” or “first daughter”, depending on order of birth and their assigned sex.
The petitioner in this case wants to be listed as neither, and would prefer to simply be listed as “first child”, “second child”, etc., rather than having to deal with the anxiety and discomfort they say has resulted from a lifetime of being forced into having to choose between male or female. If their petition is honored by the courts, it could potentially allow for nonbinary identification across all manners of documentation.
Unlike some modern nations, Japan has no “X” or other marker for nonbinary or other individuals in any official documentation anywhere in the country (at time of writing). The Family Registry itself is a very central document to an individual’s legal existence in the country, and any fundamental changes to how the system operates, including the creation of a non-gendered registration option, would potentially have large ramifications for how sex and gender are referenced throughout the nation’s bureaucracy.
Although “X” or similar markers do not exist, some forms of ID no longer carry gender markers. Since 2022, Japanese driver’s licenses no longer feature a sex marker, and is one of the few pieces of commonly used official ID in Japan that does not.
Whether the case out of Kyoto will prevail is yet to be seen, and whether it will result in a national shift in policy is likewise unclear. However, as with other issues such as marriage equality, it appears the national legislature is as yet unwilling to seriously engage with questions surrounding sex, gender, and the law. This has necessitated individuals to pursue legal remedies through the courts, some of which have even won Supreme Court victories. [5]
Note: While articles on the case in Kyoto make reference to the petitioner’s sex assigned at birth and current identity, WTT will refrain from doing so.
[1]「経産省、トイレ利用制限を撤廃 トランスジェンダー女性に」共同通信 11 November 2024 [2] 二階堂友紀「最高裁「違法」判決後も女性トイレ制限 経産省、トランス女性職員に」朝日新聞 22 September 2024 [3] 奥原慎平「自民・女性を守る議連「女性スペースは身体的特徴で」 法案の要綱了承、総裁選候補に訴え」産経新聞 4 September 2024. Also, see「女性スペースは身体的特徴で」法案の要綱全文 自民・女性を守る議連」産経新聞 5 September 2024 for the proposed bill’s full wording. [4] 「ノンバイナリー当事者が戸籍の男女記載是正申し立て 京都家裁」NHK, 13 December 2024, Mizutani Reona “Nonbinary person petitions Kyoto Family Court to not list ‘eldest daughter’ on family register” Mainichi, 16 December 2024 [5] Anthony Kuhn, “Japan’s Supreme Court hands down a landmark transgender rights decision”, NPR, 25 October 2024Photo: Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry building, by 文部乱 via Wikimedia Commons
