Background and summary Same-sex marriage (, , ) is not recognized in Japan. However, debate on the issue has emerged in recent years, with several political parties expressing support or openness to discuss the matter. Several lawsuits contesting the law barring same-sex marriage were filed in court in February 2019. In addition, polling suggests high levels of support for same-sex marriage among the Japanese public, notably among women and the younger generation. On March 27, 2009, media outlets reported that Japan would allow its nationals to marry foreign same-sex partners in countries where same-sex marriage is legal. Japan had previously refused to issue a document, which states that a person is single and of legal age and is required for citizens to wed overseas, if the applicant's intended spouse was of the same legal sex. Under the change, the
Ministry of Justice instructed local authorities to issue the key certificate to citizens who wish to marry their same-sex partners. Further, in March 2019, the Justice Ministry revoked a deportation order for a gay
Taiwanese man who had remained in Japan illegally after overstaying his visa, giving consideration to his longtime same-sex relationship with a Japanese national. The Ministry issued a special
residence permit to the man, who had lived in Japan for about 25 years. The Ministry's Immigration Bureau granted him a one-year resident visa after the Tokyo District Court suggested that it review the order. In June 2011, the deputy head abbot of
Kyoto's
Shunkō-in temple announced that the temple would perform same-sex marriage ceremonies as part of
Pride Month. Similarly, in April 2020, the deputy head abbot of
Kawagoe's Saimyouji temple, announced that he would perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. Since 15 May 2012,
Tokyo Disney Resort has allowed symbolic same-sex marriage ceremonies in its Cinderella's Castle hotel. Its first same-sex marriage was held on March 3, 2013, between
Koyuki Higashi and her partner Hiroko Masuhara.
Constitutional wording Article 24 of the
Japanese Constitution states: "1) Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis. 2) With regard to choice of spouse, property rights, inheritance, choice of domicile, divorce and other matters pertaining to marriage and the family, laws shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes." Previously, a couple in Japan could marry only if their respective head of household (the father, or in the absence of a father, the eldest son) consented to the union. As a result,
arranged marriage was the dominant form of marriage. Those couples who could not obtain permission had to
elope and stay in
common-law marriage. The purpose of Article 24 of the Constitution was to assert freedom of consenting adults to marry, and to explicitly establish the equality of both sexes in marriage. Some legal scholars argue that because the intent behind the article was not in reference to same-sex marriage, it need not apply in legalising same-sex marriage. However, conservative lawmakers as well as legal scholars who take a literal approach to constitutional interpretation argue that such an argument is a stretch. In February 2015, the
National Diet debated whether same-sex marriage should be recognized under the Constitution.
Kota Matsuda, a member of the
House of Councillors, said, "We need to eliminate lifestyle difficulties for same-sex couples. A prerequisite to achieving this goal is dealing with Article 24 of the Constitution." Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe expressed his opinion on the issue:
Political viewpoints The
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been in power almost continuously since 1958, is opposed to same-sex marriage, even though some individual lawmakers from the party have expressed their personal support, including
Taro Kono,
Ken Saitō and
Shigeru Ishiba. In January 2023, Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida expressed his opinion on the issue: "We need to be extremely careful in considering the matter as it could affect the structure of family life in Japan". Kishida said in March 2023 that he did not think banning same-sex couples from marrying was "unjust discrimination". In September 2024, while
running for prime minister, Ishiba said "he would consider the possibility of developing a law on same-sex marriage". On 17 December 2024, Ishiba made the following statement about same-sex marriage during a parliamentary session: "I have met concerned individuals, and I can see that being together is the most precious thing to them. While there is no 'scale' for measuring the national happiness, I believe that fulfilling these deepest wishes would have a positive and beneficial impact on the overall well-being of Japan." In his 2024 book
Conservative Politician, Ishiba wrote: "From the perspective of guaranteeing fundamental human rights, as long as there are citizens whose rights are being obstructed, it is necessary to enact legislation as soon as possible, without having to wait for the Supreme Court's decision." However, at a news conference on 25 March 2025, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshimasa Hayashi, commenting on the five high court decisions, said, "All of these decisions have not yet been finalized, and we will closely monitor the Supreme Court's decision as well." Prime Minister
Sanae Takaichi, in office since October 2025, opposes same-sex marriage. During LDP presidential election debates in September 2025, Takaichi explicitly stated her position when questioned by high school students. She justified her stance by citing Article 24 of the Japanese Constitution, arguing that because the text stipulates marriage is based on the "consent of both sexes", she is "not in a position to agree with same-sex marriage at this point in time." However, she qualified her statement by noting that she believes "same-sex partners are fine," suggesting tolerance for relationships outside the legal institution of marriage. , head of the Social Democratic Party, calling for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Japan, June 2024 The
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), the
Japanese Communist Party (JCP), the
Social Democratic Party (SDP),
Reiwa Shinsengumi, and
Komeito support legalising same-sex marriage. The
Japan Innovation Party also supports same-sex marriage, but believes a
constitutional amendment is necessary to legalize it. The governing LDP lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since 2009, and a slight majority of the newly elected Parliament is reported as being in favour of same-sex marriage (51% support, 25% undecided and 24% opposed). All Reiwa Shinsengumi, Communist and Social Democratic MPs supported same-sex marriage, as well as a majority within the Constitutional Democratic Party (131 MPs in support and 16 undecided), the Democratic Party For the People (16 MPs in support, 10 undecided and 1 opposed), Komeito (22 MPs in support and 2 undecided), and the Japan Innovation Party (24 MPs in support, 5 undecided and 8 opposed). All
Sanseitō and
Conservative Party MPs opposed same-sex marriage, as well as a plurality within the Liberal Democratic Party (23 MPs in support, 73 undecided and 95 opposed).
Legislative activity , 2023 In December 2018, the Constitutional Democratic Party announced it would introduce a bill in 2019 to amend the Civil Code to legalise same-sex marriage. The bill was submitted to the National Diet by the CDP, the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party on 3 June 2019. It sought to adopt
gender-neutral language, with the terms "party of marriage" being used rather than "husband and wife", and "parents" rather than "father and mother". In June 2019, the CDP added the legalisation of same-sex marriage and ending
discrimination against the LGBT community to their party platform ahead of the
2019 House of Councillors election. The bill did not advance before the
2021 general election. A new same-sex marriage bill was introduced to Parliament by the CDP in March 2023. The Communist Party introduced its own bill on 27 March 2023. In September 2020, the
Nagaokakyō City Assembly adopted a motion urging the National Diet to discuss the legalization of same-sex marriage. Supporters of same-sex marriage hope the introduction of the partnership oath system in numerous municipalities will encourage parliamentarians to legalise same-sex marriage. The LGBT organisation Marriage for All Japan (, ) has also organised signature gatherings and meetings with lawmakers from across the political spectrum. The organisation noted in particular that the
COVID-19 pandemic had made same-sex couples more "vulnerable" and "anxious", as they could not visit each other in hospitals nor entitled to any legal recognition if one of the partners were to die.
Court cases to discuss the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Japan, April 2023
Cohabitation rights On 4 March 2020, the
Tokyo High Court ruled that cohabiting same-sex couples should be entitled to the same legal benefits as those granted to cohabiting heterosexual couples. This ruling provided legitimacy to the plaintiff's same-sex relationship, allowing the plaintiff to sue her lesbian partner of seven years for
infidelity, a move that was previously restricted to heterosexual partners. The court overturned the decision of the Nagoya District Court which had denied Yasuhide Uchiyama, a gay man whose partner was murdered in 2014, the victims' benefits in June 2020. Uchiyama applied for victim compensation from the Aichi Prefectural Public Safety Commission in December 2016 after his partner's murder, but was rejected due to the fact that they were both men. He subsequently filed a lawsuit, but his claim was later dismissed by the Nagoya district and high courts. Japanese law on victims' benefits stipulates that those eligible for payments include cohabiting couples, but does not specify whether the couple has to be of the opposite or same sex. The Supreme Court held that the law was "meant to cushion the mental and financial blow for the bereaved family", and that "whether the victim's live-in partner is the opposite or same sex does not make an immediate difference in facilitating that reduction". It
remanded the case to the Nagoya High Court to consider whether Uchiyama and his late partner were in a relationship equivalent to a common-law marriage. Subsequently, the
Parliamentary League for Considering LGBT Issues petitioned the Cabinet to administratively apply provisions in statute regarding common-law marriages to same-sex couples. In January 2025, Minister of State for Special Missions
Junko Mihara announced that 24 national laws regarding common-law marriages would be applied to same-sex couples, including laws regarding protections from
domestic violence, lease and rents, and access to child abuse prevention services. On 3 October, 9 further laws regarding common-law marriages were extended to same-sex couples. On 14 March 2024, the Nagoya Family Court allowed a man to adopt the same family name as his same-sex partner, ruling that the two men "[were] in a relationship similar to marriage".
"Freedom to Marry for All" lawsuits Background On 14 November 2018, the
Mainichi Shimbun reported that several same-sex couples intended to file a lawsuit against the government seeking state compensation, arguing that the inability of same-sex couples to legally marry is unconstitutional. The newspaper reported that this would be the "first lawsuit in the country to directly question the constitutionality of same-sex marriage". On 28 November 2018, the legal team held a symposium with media outlets in
Tokyo. Takako Uesugi, one of the lawyers, stated, "Among G7 nations, only
Italy and Japan do not recognize same-sex marriage. However, Italy has a national
same-sex partnership system. Japan is the only one with nothing at the national level." At the symposium, Sota Kimura, a law professor at
Tokyo Metropolitan University, gave a lecture introducing the theory that "the emphasis on 'consent of both sexes' in Article 24, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution is merely a negation of the pre-war
family system." In January 2019, about a dozen same-sex couples applied for
marriage licenses at different city offices in Japan. On 4 January 2019, a male couple submitted a marriage application at the city hall in
Kawagoe. This was followed by submissions from other plaintiff couples across the country throughout the month. All applications were rejected. On 22 January 2019, the Marriage For All Japan organisation was established by volunteer lawyers, plaintiffs and citizens to "promote understanding of sexual minorities and conduct social education and awareness activities". Makiko Terahara, co-representative of the Tokyo litigation legal team, and Akiyoshi Miwa of the Kansai litigation legal team were appointed as representative directors. Lawyer Takeharu Kato explained, "We are not creating a special system for same-sex marriage. It means making the marriage system, which heterosexual people have access to, available to everyone including homosexual people, and thinking about the marriage system together." Lawsuits, reported in the media as the "Freedom to Marry for All" lawsuits (, ), were filed by 13 couples on
Valentine's Day, 14 February 2019, in
district courts in
Nagoya,
Osaka,
Sapporo and Tokyo. The plaintiffs argued that the Civil Code provisions infringe on the freedom of marriage guaranteed by Articles 13 and 24 of the Constitution, and violate rights to equality under the law guaranteed by Article 14. On the same day, lawyers launched "CALL4", a
crowdfunding website to support the trial. The name implied "calling for" support, with the hope that citizens could become a "fourth power" countering the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Over
¥5 million were raised, which funded opinion papers from 10 legal experts submitted to the courts. Fumiko Suda of the Hokkaido legal team later stated, "Without the donations from CALL4, it would have been difficult to obtain a ruling of unconstitutionality." The government announced it would prepare briefs opposing the lawsuits. Its brief, published in October 2019, stated that "[marriage] has traditionally been the union of a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation and child-rearing" and that "the state or society legally intervenes in marriage because marriage is socially important as an institution that produces and nurtures the next generation". A second case was filed in Tokyo in March 2021 by eight individuals. In February 2024, a same-sex couple in
Sendai announced plans to file a seventh lawsuit challenging the ban. Further, a dual Japanese-French same-sex couple, who had
married under French law, filed a petition with the Kobe Family Court in November 2023 requesting the acceptance of their marriage registration in
Amagasaki.
District court rulings On 17 March 2021, the Sapporo District Court issued a judgment finding that the law banning same-sex marriage violated the
constitutional rights of same-sex couples, specifically Article 14 of the Constitution of Japan, which bans discrimination on the basis of "race, creed, sex, social status or family origin". However, the court rejected the request of the six plaintiffs (two male couples and one female couple) for ¥1 million (equivalent to about
$9,000 or
£6,480) per person for the denial. The court rejected the government's argument that Article 24 of the Constitution (which defines marriage as based on the "mutual consent of both sexes") limits marriage to opposite-sex couples; plaintiffs argued that this article actually only bars
forced marriage. Chief Judge Tomoko Takebe ruled: Judge Fumimi Doi ruled that there was a "rationality" in limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, holding that the purpose of the institution of marriage was to "protect the relationship between a man and a woman who give birth to and raise children" through "natural reproduction". During the proceedings, Judge Hiroaki Tanaka described the plaintiffs' individual circumstances as "impurities" and indicated that witness interrogation was unnecessary. In response, plaintiffs organized an online petition, submitting about 18,000 signatures in February 2021. One of the plaintiffs died in January 2021. In April 2021, Tanaka was replaced by Judge Momoko Ikehara, who reversed the previous decision and allowed witness interrogations, which took place in October 2021. In November 2022, the Tokyo District Court ruled that the ban was in a "state of unconstitutionality" under Article 24 and that the government should establish a legal framework recognizing same-sex unions, but did not explicitly declare the ban unconstitutional. Judge Ikehara held that "the absence of a legal system that allows partners to become a family constitutes a serious threat and obstacle to the personal existence of homosexual individuals". The plaintiff couples
appealed the decision in December 2022. Judge Tomoyuki Tobizawa ruled similarly in the second Tokyo District Court case and ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on 14 March 2024. He held that same-sex couples have an "irreplaceable right" to live a life in accordance with their
gender identity and sexual orientation. However, he held that the establishment of same-sex marriage was a matter for the Diet to address. The court held that "the significance of marriage does not lie solely in reproduction and the protection and upbringing of children" and ruled that the non-recognition of same-sex marriage violates both Articles 14 and 24(2) of the Constitution, the first time a district court had found the ban unconstitutional under Article 24. On 8 June 2023, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that the ban was in a "state of unconstitutionality" under Article 24, but "stopped short of fully declaring [it] unconstitutional" and rejected the plaintiffs' request for ¥1 million in damages. The case included a male couple who were added as plaintiffs in 2020, and a couple consisting of a foreign national and a Japanese national who had legally married abroad and were raising a child in Japan. The court ruled that: Unlike the Sapporo District Court, the High Court ruled that the ban also violated Article 24, interpreting Article 24(1)'s phrase "both sexes" as not excluding same-sex marriage but rather intended to abolish the feudal family system. The court noted that "there is no indication that social disadvantages or adverse effects will occur" if same-sex marriage is recognized. Judge Kiyofumi Saito ruled: Judge Sonoe Taniguchi ruled that "there is no rational basis for maintaining a situation in which sexual orientation, an attribute that cannot be chosen or changed at will, creates a distinction between the enjoyment of important legal benefits" and that the lack of a legal system for same-sex couples is "a discriminatory treatment without rational basis". In a widely quoted passage from the ruling, Judge Ken Okada wrote: The Nagoya and Osaka high courts also ruled the ban unconstitutional in March 2025. However, the Tokyo High Court upheld the ban as constitutional in the second Tokyo case on 28 November 2025, becoming the first high court to do so.
Supreme Court ruling On 25 March 2024, the plaintiffs in the Sapporo lawsuit filed an appeal of the High Court decision based on the fact that the court had dismissed their claim for compensation and that discussions on the legalization of same-sex marriage were not progressing in the Diet. This was the first appeal to the Supreme Court in the series of lawsuits, followed by plaintiffs in the other five cases. On 25 March 2026, the Supreme Court accepted all six appeals and referred them to the Grand Bench.
Transgender and intersex issues On 16 July 2024, a
transgender person, whose sex was registered as male but who was married to a woman, filed a petition with the Kyoto Family Court. The petitioner sought to change their registered gender from male to female, arguing that the provision in the
Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder requiring applicants to be unmarried was unconstitutional. The provision exists to prevent the creation of same-sex marriages in the family register, but the applicant argued that denying same-sex marriage was itself unconstitutional and that forcing a
divorce to change gender was a human rights violation. The Kyoto Family Court ruled the provision constitutional on 19 March 2025, a decision upheld by the Osaka High Court on 25 September 2025. The applicant has appealed to the Supreme Court.
Koseki registry In Japan, each citizen is registered through the
koseki system whereby an individual is registered as a part of a household (while in the
Western world, a
birth certificate can act as a proof of identity).
Koseki registration performs a somewhat similar role to marriage in the West as it endows a member of the same
koseki legal power (as next of kin) in dealing with civil matters such as inheritance, hospital visits or the right to organise a funeral. Therefore, registering each other as a part of the
koseki works as a substitute for Western-style marriage. As a consequence, Japanese same-sex couples, in the absence of same-sex marriage or civil partnership laws, often use
adoption procedures to register themselves as belonging to the same household; where the older partner legally adopts the younger partner, which in absence of a spouse makes the only adopted child the sole executor of that household. ==Historical and customary recognition==