Transidentity in Japan

Transidentity in Japan

13.08.2020

Written by: Dylan Gueffier
Translated by: Kevin Gueffier, Dylan Gueffier, 

In January 2019, USUI Takakito, a transgender man, seized the Supreme Court of Japan in order to rule on the possible unconstitutionality of the forced sterilization as part of sexual reassignment surgery^[1]NBC News, Japan’s Surpeme Court upholds transgender sterilization requirement, January 2019, available at: … Continue reading. If the final statement was in favor of the law, the merit of this trial is that it sheds light on the difficulties that the transgender people are facing in Japanese society. 

The obstacles to overcome 

In 2003, the National Diet promulgated the first law dealing with gender dysphoria^[2]« personal feeling that there is a gap between : the gender which assigned by the doctors at the birth, the way that the person is perceived by the society in terms of gender and the perception of … Continue reading (Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender for People with Gender Identity Disorder^[3]Government of Japan : https://elaws.e-gov.go.jp/search/elawsSearch/elaws_search/lsg0500/detail?lawId=415AC1000000111 ). Its content reveals the discriminations transgender people are facing in Japan in order to legally change their gender in the family record book. To achieve change in legal status, transgender people need to fulfil certain conditions: a medical notice delivered by at least two doctors in order to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria; the obligation to undergo surgery and to be sterilised as well as a ban on being married or having an underage child (law amendment published in 2008). 

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) pointed that these conditions are humiliating for transgender people. While many transgender people want to undergo surgery, there are also many who refuse the operation for a variety of reasons. The act of 2003 affects the the image that Japanese society, and transgender people themselves, have of transidentity: a person who does not undergo surgery is not considered to be of the opposite sex by the law. This creates an additional anxiety for the first interested persons who internalize this illegitimacy, feeding a feeling of isolation inherent to the condition of transgender persons in the archipelago.

At a societal level, there is a real discomfort when it comes to the question of gender dysphoria. Many transgender people feel extremely alone because they cannot talk to anyone for fear of rejection from family, friends, colleagues etc. The resulting frustration of not being able to live life to the fullest without the risk of isolation, ridicule and institutional violence, inevitably results in suicidal thoughts. A survey carried out by HARIMA Katsuki^[4]Manager of the clinic, certificate from the University of Tokyo, manager of the Japan Society of Sexual Science, member of the World Professionnal Association for Transgender Health shows that among transgender people, 60% had already thought about suicide and about 10% of them had taken action^[5]HARIMA Katsuki, Things to know about the LGBT Community, Nippon.com, March 2019, available on : https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/c05903/things-to-know-about-the-lgbt-community.html. 

In 2019, a total of 20,169 people had taken their own lives, or 16 out of every 100,000 people^[6]National Police Agency : https://www.npa.go.jp/safetylife/seianki/jisatsu/R02/R01_jisatuno_joukyou.pdf, a figure that is falling.

Even though the Japanese media, especially television, frequently broadcast images of transgender people such as hosts or artists, they usually do it in order to mock them. Several programs, consisting of going to meet “abnormal” or “weird” people, contribute to establishing in Japanese society the idea that transgender people are deviant. The humorous goal of these programs has a dark repercussion in reality where clichés persist and fuel rejection. They also contribute to a certain self-discrimination on the part of transgender people who, in return, start considering themselves as object of derision or abnormal persons. 

Transgender people in Japan also face discrimination in employment and in the workplace. When job hunting, 65% of transgender people experienced difficulties of recruitment because of their gender dysphoria^[7]OSHIMA Ayami, セクシュアルマイノリティの就労問題―当事者が安心して働くために―,Waseda University, 2019, available on : … Continue reading. Transgender people are also forced to abide by the dress code: depending on the gender registered in the family record book, the person must wear a suit or a pantsuit or risk being denied an interview^[8]LGBT法連合会, List of difficulties encountered by people belonging to the LGBT community, March 2019, available on : http://lgbtetc.jp/#sec04. Once in the workplace, harassment from management and colleagues continues. This can include pressure to undergo surgery and come out, the impossibility to use the bathroom in a gender-consistent manner, or outright dismissal^[9]MIZUTANI Hideo, トランスジェンダー（以下「ＴＧ」と略す。「性同一性障害」など）の人々は、職場などで様々. The harassment experienced by transgender people in the workplace drive many of them towards depression involving temporary layoffs^[10]な差別やハラスメントを受けているようですが、どのようなものでしょう。どうしたらよいでしょうか？, CuoreC³, available at : … Continue reading. 

One of the most visible obstacles remains, in Japan and elsewhere, the violence of comments by political figures. In 2018, the deputy of the ruling Liberal Democrat Party ( LDP ) SUGITA Mio sparked a controversy by stating that people belonging to the LGBT community should not benefit from taxpayers’ money. According to the deputy, these people are incapable of having children and are consequently not productive^[11]Philippe Mesmer, In Japan, the LGBT community goes into action against the « hatred speech » of a deputize, Le Monde, July 2018, available on : … Continue reading. These words are all the more appalling given the LDP’s half-hearted response, showing a clear reluctance to the equality of rights for LGBT people. Mrs. SUGITA’s statement seems absurd since the law^[12]Government of Japan :  https://elaws.egov.go.jp/search/elawsSearch/elaws_search/lsg0500/detail?lawId=415AC1000000111 promulgated by her own party in 2003 continues to force transgender people, targeted by these commentaries, to be infertile. 

Inprovements

If what was stated previously depicts a dark picture of transgender peoples’ situation in Japan, one should not rule out the progress made in this matter, especially during the last decade. 

A lot of Japanese cities have lively LGBT districts, often historical, such as Shinjuku in Tokyo or Doyama-cho in Osaka^[13]MITSUHASHI Junko,How does Shinjunku became the center of sexual diversity in Tokyo, July 2020, Nippon.com, available on : https://www.nippon.com/fr/japan-topics/c05902/ with plentiful establishments dedicated to welcome transgender customers in a friendly atmosphere. These districts constitute a refuge and a meeting place, essential to cope with the feeling of isolation and the fear of rejection. It helps similar individuals share their experiences and exchange their views regarding their situations. 

The same goes for the internet which contributed to the establishment of movements and gatherings within the Japanese transgender community. Social networks enable the organization of events via groups like Stonewall Japan^[14]https://www.facebook.com/groups/stonewalljapan. These groups share information regarding transgender people and LGBT’s rights in general, health or even identify companies considered as “allies” that apply inclusive politics. 

The multiplication of celebrities revealing their trans-identity could also contribute to a more positive image of transgender people in comparison to what is shown on television. Among those celebrities, the most famous are HARUNA Ai, singer and winner of the Miss International Queen contest in 2009 ; TANIO Toshimi, presenter of News Zero on Nippon tv ; Genking, model and actress ; HOSODA Tomoya, elected at the age of 26 to the town council of Iruma (Saitama) in 2017. These public figures are important because they embody a hope for transgender people facing the aforementioned barriers. 

In the video games field, a small free independent game, One night, Hot springs, available on smartphones, and in multiple languages, was released in 2018. The player embodies a transgender person invited by a friend to thermal spring (onsen). The game offers the possibility to understand the difficulties that transgender people are facing on a daily basis. If this initiative remains quite marginal, it is interesting to note that a progressive integration of LGBT themes in video games would allow a better understanding of these issues, especially among young people, provided that they are treated with kindness.. 

If the government does not seem to be willing to quickly improve the situation of transgender people in Japan, several companies decided to adapt their politics to the diversity of their employees. This is the case of Kirin Holdings, which, since July 2017, has prohibited discriminations against people belonging to the LGBT community and allowsed transgender people to take leave days in order to undergo sexual reassignment surgery^[15]Nippon.com, LBGT in the Japanese society : towards a progressive acceptation, November 2018, available on : https://www.nippon.com/fr/features/h00288/?cx_recs_click=true. In the same way, the Shiseido brand officially supports the Tokyo Rainbow Pride and has been rewarded for its efforts in integrating transgender people into the company, especially by offering make-up lessons to the persons who had transitioned^[16]https://corp.shiseido.com/en/sustainability/labor/diversity.html. In spite of the support from a lot of businesses, the change of gender on the family record book still remains a political matter and must necessarily be resolved through governmental action. While pressure is growing, it still does not seem to be enough to provoke a reaction from the ruling conservative party.

Some prefectures and municipalities have also decided to act at the local level, like the prefecture of Mie, which has banned “the disclosure of the gender identity of an LGBT person without their permission.”^[17]Sebastien Thibert, In a region of Japan, the “outing” of LGBT is from now on punished by the law, June 2020, Fugues, available on : … Continue reading. Change could come from these structures,  as has already been the case for many progressive laws passed by local governments: even if gay marriage is still prohibited et the national level, some local councils such as Shibuya, Osaka, Sapporo, or even prefectures like Ibaraki^[18]Prefecture of Ibaraki : https://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/hokenfukushi/fukushi/jinken/ibarakipartner.html, established a “certificate of domestic partnership”^[19]Ibid 9, which gives access to the same rights as heterosexual marriage. t is therefore possible to envisage a “domino” effect on the inclusion of transgender people at the local level in the years to come.

Finally, it is essential to note the presence of a several associations promoting the rights of transgender people in Japan. The association G-pit^[20] http://g-pit.com/ offers support to transgender people in the archipelago: on its website, it is possible to find accurate information on the procedures transitioning, hormones, surgery in Japan or Thailand, change of civil status, etc. The association also provides a free helpline-hotline plus legal resources. More globally, the website of the JobRainbow group^[21]https://jobrainbow.jp/corp/company, founded in 2016, is a platform specifically  designed to help people belonging to the LGBT community find employment in an environment that would benefit them. Similarly, the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation (LGBT法連合 会^[22] http://lgbtetc.jp/), founded in 2015, advocates for the rights of people belonging to LGBT community and presents several resources for information. 

These associations play an important role in popularizing words such as transgender, trans-identity, gender dysphoria etc. which allowed many people to identify with these terms, where twenty years ago, it was difficult for transgender people to put a word to their feelings^[23]MINNA Subaru, LGBTの割合は13人に1人？ 100人に1人？　バラつく理由, November 2019, JobRainbow Magazine, available on : https://jobrainbow.jp/magazine/lgbt-percentage. This evolution is visible in the increasing number of people belonging to the LGBT community. They represented 7.6% in 2015 and 8% in 2018. In other words : ten million people out of one hundred twenty-six million^[24]Ibid 9. These numbers show an awareness of the concerned people towards their gender identity or their sexual orientation. 

Still a long way to go 

It is necessary to take into account the economic impact of the rejection of minorities, more importantly in a country with an aging a falling population. Indeed, according to a study conducted by the World Bank, unemployment or underemployment within the LGBT community limits the participation of minorities in the economy of countries. The report takes India as an example where the discriminations costs up to 1.7% of the GDP^[25]M. V. Lee Badgett, The Economic Cost of Stigma and the Exclusion of LGBT People: A Case Study of India, Banque mondiale, October 2014,available on: … Continue reading. Yet, in Japan, 31.6% of transgender men and women occupy part-time positions or precarious positions compared to 19.8%^[26]Nijiiro Diversity ; Center for Gender Studies, International Christian University Tokyo, niji Voice 2018 … Continue reading of cisgender men^[27]« to feel man being a man from birth, or woman being woman from birth”, definition available on : https://vivre-trans.fr/cisgenre-transgenre-la-difference/. 18.4% of transgender women are unemployed even though 60% of them have a university degree^[28]Ibid 20. 

Despite recent progress, significant challenges remain, especially at the political level. Next year, the mandate of ABE Shinzo, current Prime Minister, will end and a new leader from the LDP could emerge. Nothing guarantees that the next Prime Minister will allow a significant advance in the rights of transgender people,  but it should also be remembered that some members of the party do not hide their support to the cause, like INADA Tomomi^[29]Hiroyuki Tanaka, More understanding of sexual minorities needed in Japan : Ex-defense minister Inada, August 2018, The Mainichi, available on : … Continue reading, former Ministry of Defense during ABE Shinzô’s premiership. Be that as it may, the struggle for the recognition of transgender people’s rights is far from being over.