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 Continue Reading
Japan
Osaka High Court Overturns Lower Court Ruling, Finds Lack of Marriage Equality Unconstitutional [Updated]
![Osaka High Court Overturns Lower Court Ruling, Finds Lack of Marriage Equality Unconstitutional [Updated]](https://whatthetrans.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Osaka-High-Court.png)
(Photo: Osaka High Court, by Topgun1997 via Wikimedia Commons) On 25 March, the Osaka High Court found that the country’s lack of marriage equality was unconstitutional. This makes the fifth high court finding Japanese law to be out of step with the country’s constitution in regards to marriage equality. Significantly, Continue Reading
Trans Woman’s Petition to Change Legal Sex Without Divorce Rejected by Kyoto Court
(Photo by Mikhail Pavstyuk at Unsplash) On 19 March, the Kyoto Family Court rejected a petition brought by a married trans woman to change legal sex. The petition stemmed from the fact that Japan’s legal transition law requires a person to be unmarried. The petitioner has already expressed her intention Continue Reading
Fourth Japanese High Court Finds No Marriage Equality Unconstitutional
PHOTO: Nagoya High Court building, by Evelyn-Rose, via Wikimedia Commons. So many courts in Japan have found the country not allowing same sex couples to marry unconstitutional that we are having trouble thinking of new, catchy titles for articles. Hopefully, parliament will listen and we won’t have to! (See our Continue Reading
Major Trans Stories Out of Japan, December 2024
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 Continue Reading