Tokyo’s same-sex partnership system came into effect Tuesday, allowing sexual minority couples in the capital to be treated in the same manner as married heterosexual couples in areas such as housing, health care and child-rearing.
However, same-sex marriage is prohibited nationwide, meaning various other legal protections only afforded to heterosexual married couples remain unavailable.
Still, the Tokyo Partnership Oath System, despite its limitations, has been lauded by many in the LGBTQ community as a step toward achieving equal rights for sexual minorities in Japan.
“As a 41-year old sexual minority and Tokyo resident, it’s a joy to have my presence finally acknowledged practically for the first time,” said Fumino Sugiyama, a transgender activist and vice representative of Partnership Act for Tokyo.
Activist Soyoka Yamamoto, a representative of the same group, said the new system, though not legally binding, does substantially address many of the concerns Tokyo same-sex couples had and entitles them to various city services.
“But we cannot pause here,” Yamamoto said, adding that the partnership system can serve as a catalyst for achieving a society where the rights of sexual minorities in Japan are equally protected.
Tokyo is the ninth prefecture to fully implement a partnership system since the capital’s Shibuya and Setagaya wards introduced their own in 2015. Over 200 municipalities currently have such a system, and its introduction in Tokyo means that more than 60% of the Japanese population is now similarly covered.
Couples with at least one individual who identifies as a sexual minority can now apply for their partnership to be officially recognized, should one half of the partnership also live, study or work in Tokyo or plan to move to the prefecture within the next three months.
Guidelines produced by the human rights division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government state that the system has been introduced in order to “create an environment where sexual minorities can live comfortably,” including by removing various administrative barriers in daily life.
This will serve to deepen the general understanding of gender diversity and create a society in which “everyone can play an active role in their own way,” the guidelines say.
Upon registering for the partnership system, couples are issued a “certificate of acceptance” that can then be used as proof of their partnership when accessing previously unavailable public and private services.
Under the system, people can use public family housing services, give consent for surgery, be considered a family when applying for housing loans and insurance, and have the right to make hospital visits. Applicants with children may also include each child’s name on their certificate.
However, the partnership system remains separate from the marriage system, which is a legal act defined in the Civil Code. As a nonlegally binding oath that requires no changes to the family registry, certain key rights afforded to married heterosexual couples — such as inheritance, joint custody of children and spousal tax deductions — remain off limits.
Despite polling to suggest that the public is generally in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, Japan is the only country in the Group of Seven yet to take steps to do so.
