Kanagawa Prefecture to launch a new enterprise to support LGBT citizens, seeking to hire consulting staff. According to Nikkei Business Publications, Kanagawa Prefecture announced, on April 10th, that the prefecture is planning to launch a new enterprise to show support to its LGBT citizens. Consulting staff will be sent to local businesses if needed. In addition to the consultation service, seminars and in-house trainings will be held to achieve better understanding of LGBT people. Kanagawa Prefecture has taken a step toward achieving an LGBT-friendly prefecture where anyone can live happily regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. The press release,
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Left:IVAN, Right:Yuki Nomura IVAN, a transgender fashion model, and Yuki Nomura, an actor announced their current relationship the other day. Their fans are raving about their relationship, saying “such a lucky girl to date Yuki!” On April 8th, Sports Nippon, a newspaper, covered IVAN and Yuki Nomura’s relationship and Mr. Nomura’s agency admitted the fact. According to those who are close to the couple, the two have been together for almost a year. Last June, the two went on a trip with Ai Haruna and after the trip, they started dating IVAN, a well-known fashion model working worldwide, came out
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From Left: Miho Yamashita, Anri Ishizaki, Mayor Takashima Last February, Fukuoka City announced that the city would start recognizing same- sex unions from April 2nd. The city started accepting applications from March 20th. And the good news is Anri Ishizaki, the representative of an LGBT support group, and his partner, Miho Yamashita, received a same-sex partnership certificate as the first same- sex union that is officially recognized by Fukuoka City. The couple signed a written oath of partnership together at the city office and received a partnership certificate from Mayor Takashima. The driver’s-license-sized certificate enables same-sex unions to live in
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Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced its newly approved textbooks for junior high schools. It turned out that the four textbooks companies out of eight include descriptions of LGBT people in their moral education textbooks. The descriptions of LGBT people have been included in some high school textbooks, but not in the ones for junior high school students. The textbook published by Gakko Tosho (meaning school books in Japanese) says “there are three personal senses of our own’s gender: Body, Identity, and Orientation. In most cases, gender identity can be the same as the sex assigned at
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The 2nd Rainbow Diet (Raibow Kokkai in Japanese) was held at First Member’s Office Building of the House Representatives on March 13th, Tuesday. It was filled with as many as twenty two Diet members and they discussed the discrimination against LGBT professional sports players. The Rainbow Diet started with discussion among five guest speakers, Kanae Doi, the representative of Human Rights Watch Japan, Hiroshi Hase, the chairperson of LGBT all- party parliament group, Kyoko Raita, a professor of Chukyo University, Yuki Arata, a member of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Preparation committee, and Fumino Sugiyama, a FtM transgender man who
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Mayor Sakaki of Yodogawa Ward speaking at Kansai rainbow pride. “Same-sex couples need to be recognized and embraced in our society. Same-sex partnership will possibly be a great chance for the local businesses to recognize and support same-sex couples,” Mayor Yoshimura said in response to the question asked by a city council. The mayor showed a positive attitude toward same-sex partnership. On March 9th, the mayor announced that the city would recognize same-sex partnership from next September and make guidelines regarding LGBT policies and family services including same-sex partners for the local businesses. Osaka City will be the 3rd city
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This TV poster excited many fans In 2015, a gay manga titled “My Brother’s Husband” won a series of manga awards and was nominated as Best Manga of the Year in Angouleme, France. “My brother’s Husband” was so highly rated in France that Liberation, a French newspaper, introduced it as one of the good books to be distributed to school libraries all over France. Gengoroh Tagame, the author of “My Brother’s Husband” is now the center of the attention from all over the world. What’s more, it is going to be a TV drama on NHK on March 4th of
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A transgender woman in the city of Kyoto reached a settlement in a dispute over the use of female facilities in Konami Sports Club Co. The transgender woman had been unable to change her gender status on the family register due to her underage daughter when she was denied the request by the fitness club. The manager of the club forced her to use male facilities “as a man” in the way of “not causing inconveniences to other users.” She filed a lawsuit with the Kyoto District Court and reached a settlement this month. Yuki Kono(a fictitious name), a transgender
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The center person is Mayor Takashima, at the reception party of Kyushu Rainbow Pride 2017 On February 8th, the Fukuoka City announced that it would begin recognizing same-sex partnerships from April,2018. The city is to recognize same-sex partnerships in the same way as Tokyo’s Setagaya ward. The city is to start accepting written oaths of partnership and issue special certificates. Anyone unmarried and aged 20 or older who lives in the city can apply for it. The city is planning to make guidelines for same-sex partnerships and start accepting applications from April 1st. In addition to the guidelines, opening consulting
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Hotel Palm Royal Naha is famous for its LGBT friendliness. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare revised the guidelines for lodging businesses on January 31st. The new guidelines clearly state it is a violation of the guidelines when hotels deny service to people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. It has always been a violation of the laws, but in reality, it has been quite common in Japan. This time, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare aims to inform all the municipalities of this problem again. The new guidelines, issued by Japanese government and sent to all the
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