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We Do Not Live to Be Productive: LGBT Activism and the Politics of Productivity in Contemporary Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

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Abstract

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The summer of 2018 saw an unprecedented series of LGBT-led political demonstrations in Japan involving thousands of people. They emerged in reaction to an article written by conservative Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Sugita Mio which stated that LGBT couples “did not have productivity” because they could not have children. The article engendered an unprecedented backlash, as LGBT activists argued that Sugita's notion of productivity attacked not only LGBT people but other so-called “unproductive” groups. This paper analyzes the political context and significance of the 2018 protests and shows how LGBT activist strategies have evolved and responded to changing social and political conditions in Japan.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2022

References

Notes

1 Udagawa Shii. “We Shall Overcome: kussata sekai o koroshite sono shikabane o norikoete iku tame ni,” [We Shall Over Come: To Kill A Rotten World and Overcome Its Corpse]. Over Vol. 1, May 2019, p. 2-3; Matsuoka Sōshi, “‘Watashitachi wa mō damaranai,‘ LGBT o meguru 2018 nen no shakai no ugoki o furikaeru,” [We can no longer be silent: looking back at LGBT social changes in 2018] Fair-Fair, December 12, 2018

2 See Ioana Fotache, “Japanese ‘LGBT Boom’ Discourse and Its Discontents.” Sexuality and Translation in World Politics, edited by Caroline Cottet and Manuela Lavinas Picq (Bristol UK: E-International Relations, 2019) 27-41; Wakamatsu Takashi. “LGBT Konjaku: 1990 nendai gei būmu saikō,” LGBT [LGBT then and now: reconsidering the gay boom of the 1990s] In Aichi Shukutoku Daigaku Ronshū Kōryū Bunkagaku Hen No. 8, March 2018, pp. 115-127; Okada Kei, “Fukanzen ni ‘kuia’: seiteki shōsūsha o meguru aidentitei/bunka no seiji to LGBT no ‘seisansei’ gensetsu ga motarashita mono,” [Imperfectly ‘queer’: what the discourse surrounding LGBT ‘productivity’ and the cultural politics of sexual minority identity has shown] The Annual Review of Cultural Studies Vol. 7 (2019) 7-26.

3 Dentsū Diversity Lab. “Dentsū Daibashitei Rabo ga ”LGBT chōsa 2018“ o jissen: LGBT sō ni gaitō suru hito wa 8.9%, ‘LGBT’ to iu shintōritsu wa yaku 7 wari ni,” [Implenting Dentsu Diversity Lab's 2018 LGBT Survey,“ Those who include themselves in ‘LGBT’ is 8.9%, the word ‘LGBT’ now known by approximately 70%] January 10, 2019: 1; 2.

4 Shūkan Daiyomondo. “’LGBT shijō’ o senryaku se yo! [Let's Conquer the 5.7 Trillion Yen Domestic ‘LGBT Market’!]. February 25, 2013.

5 Yoshino Taichirō. “Shibuya ku, dōsei pātonā jōrei, kugikai honkaigi de kaketsu/seiritsu,” [Shibuya Ward Same-Sex Partnership Ordinance Passed And Established at Municipal Assembly Deliberative Meeting] Huffington Post Japan, March 30, 2015

6 See Taniguchi Hiroyuki. “‘Dōseikon’ wa kokka no gimu ka,” [Is ‘same sex marriage’ a duty of the state?] Gendai Shisō 43(16) October 2015, pp. 46-59.

7 Uri Friedman. “How Sochi Became the Gay Olympics.” The Atlantic, January 28, 2014

8 Human Rights First. “IOC Adopts Proposal to Include Sexual Orientation in Olympic Charter's Non-discrimination Principle,” December 08, 2014

9 Nikaidō Yuki. “Seiji no genba kara,” [From the arena of politics] in Sei no arikata no tayōsei: hitori hitori no sekushuariti ga taisetsu ni sareru shakai o mezashite [The diversity of sexuality: towards a society in which all individual sexualities are respected], edited by Ninomiya Shūhei (Tokyo: Nihon Hihyōsha, 2017) pp. 72-93: 75.

10 Nikaidō, Seiji no genba, 76-7.

11 Asahi Shimbun. “LGBT jimin ashibumi,” [LDP hesitates on LGBT.] November 20th, 2016, p. 4.

12 Inada Tomomi. LGBT: Subete no hito ni chansu ga ataerareru shakai wo [LGBT: Towards a Society Where all People are Given a Chance] Huffington Post Japan, December 11, 2015

13 Buzzap! “LGBT wa shakai o midasu” Shibuya de han dōseiai demo hassei, jimintō mo dōseikon ni kenen ni hyōmei shi, nichōme no geibā wa tekihatsu kyōka,“ [”LGBT causes social chaos“ An anti-gay protest emerges at Shibuya, while the LDP expresses its unease with same-sex marriage and increased restrictions on gay bars in Ni-Chōme] March 10, 2015

14 Yagi Hidetsugu. “Shibuya dōsei kappuru jōrei…sen'eika shita jendā furī Meiji Jingu ga ‘doseikon no seichi’ ni naru hi,” [Shibuya Same-Sex Partnership Ordinance…the day radicalized gender free Meiji Jingu becomes a ‘holy ground for same-sex marriage.‘] Seiron 521, May 2015, 226-233.

15 J-Cast News. “Dōseikon ga shōshika ni hakusha kakeru' giin no TV hatsugen, takoku no rei de wa dō na no ka,” [‘Same-sex marriage will spur population decline’ a representative's TV comments, what about the examples of other countries]. March 6, 2015.

16 Nikaidō, Seiji no genba, 92.

17 Ibid., 78.

18 Ibid., 81.

19 Ibid., 72.

20 Shimbun Akahata. “LGBT sabetsu kaishō he: 4 yatō ga hōan o kyōdō teishutsu,” [Towards the elimination of LGBT discrimination: 4 opposition parties jointly submit a bill] May 28, 2016. The parties that proposed the bill were the Japanese Communist Party, Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, and People's Life Party (now defunct).

21 Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Committee. “Seiteki shikō/sei dōitsusei (sei jinin) no tayōsei tte? Jimintō no kangaekata [What is sexual preference/gender identity diversity? The LDP's standpoint].” June 28, 2016, 2.

22 For example, the Abe government has provided material support for a variety of schemes to boost childbirth rates including sponsoring marriage-partner finding events (konkatsu), child-parent learning seminars designed to instill ‘proper maternal and paternal roles’ in new parents, and tax subsidies for newlywed couples and ‘traditional’ three-generation households. For more information, see Saitō Masami, “Bakkurashu to kansei konkatsu no renzokusei,” [The continuity of the backlash and government-sponsored marriage activities.] in Maboroshi no ‘nihonteki kazoku‘ [The illusionary Japanese family], edited by Hayakawa Tadanori (Tokyo: Seikyūsha, 2018), pp. 79-116; Horiuchi Kyōko, “Zeisei to kyoiku wo tsunagu mono,” [That which connects the tax system and education] ibid., 117-140.

23 Nikkei Keizai Shimbun. “Shushō ‘Seisansei/hito zukuri ryōrin’ dai yon ji Abe naikaku hassoku,” [Prime Minister: ‘The twin wheels of productivity and human development’ the 4th Abe Cabinet Commences]. November 1, 2017

24 Asahi Shimbun. “Abe Shushō no shisei hōshin enzetsu (zenbun),” [Full text of Prime Minister Abe's Policy Speech]. January 23, 2018: p. 5.

25 Horie Yuri. Rezubian aidentitīzu [Lesbian identities] (Kyoto: Rakuhoku Shuppan, 2015) 194-8.

26 Tomiko Yoda. “A Roadmap to Millennial Japan.” In Japan after Japan: Social and Cultural Life from the Recessionary 1990s to the Present, edited by Tomiko Yoda and Harry Harootunian (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006) pp. 16-54.

27 Inoue Teruko. “Bakkurashu ni yoru seibetsu nigensei ideorogi saikōchiku,” [The reconstruction of gender binary ideology by the backlash] Joseigaku Vol. 15 (2007) 14-22: 15-16.

28 Tomomi Yamaguchi. “‘Gender Free,‘ Feminism in Japan: A Story of Mainstreaming and Backlash,” Feminist Studies, Vol. 40, No. 3 (2014), pp. 541-572; see also Ayako Kano. Japanese Feminist Debates: A Century of Contention on Sex, Love, and Labor (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2016), 140-172.

29 Tomomi Yamaguchi. “’jendā furī’ ronsō to feminizumu undō no ushiwareta jūnen,” [The ‘gender-free’ controversy and the decade feminist activism lost] Bakkurashu! Naze jendā furī wa tatakareta no ka [Backlash! Why was gender free attacked?] (Tokyo: Sōfūsha, 2006) 244-282: 264-6.

30 Kazama Takashi, “’Chūsei ningen,” to wa dare ka? Seiteki mainoritei he no ‘fobia’ wo fumaeta teikō he,“ Who is the ‘gender neutral human‘? Towards a resistance against phobias towards sexual minorities.] Joseigaku 15 (2007) 23-33: 23.

31 Shimizu, Akiko. “’Imported” Feminism and ‘Indigenous’ Queerness: From Backlash to Transphobic Feminism in Transnational Japanese Context,“ Jendā Kenkyū, No. 23, 2020 pp. 89-104: 92.

32 Shimizu, Akiko. “Scandalous equivocation: a note on the politics of queer self-naming.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 8:4 (2007) 503-516: 504.

33 Horie, Rezubian, 196-7; see also Kazama Takashi. “Dōseiai no jinken to gurōbaru ka: Tokyo to jinken shishin kosshi kara no sakujo o megutte,” [Globalization and homosexual human rights: on the deletion of the Tokyo Metropolitan Human Rights charter proposal Gendai Shisō 28 (2), October 2000, pp 94-99; Yomiuri Shimbun. “Seidōitsusei shōgaisha no jinken mamoru: Yame shi, danjo sankaku jōreian o kaketsu,” [Protecting the human rights of those with GID: Yame city passes DKS ordinance proposal] March 22, 2004.

34 Saitō, Bakkurashu to kansei konkatsu no renzokusei, 93-5.

35 Nishio Kanji and Yagi Hidetsugu. Shin kokumin no yudan: ‘jendā furī’ ‘kageki na seikyōiku’ ga nihon wo horobosu [The new issue citizens are unprepared for: ‘Gender free’ ‘radical sex education’ will destroy Japan] (Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūsho, 2005): 301. The term ‘okama’ is a derogatory term used to describe gay and effeminate men. While some individuals have attempted to reclaim the term to describe themselves, many consider it offensive, and debates over the usage of the term in the public domain have been extensive. See Fushimi Noriaki et al.,‘Okama’ wa sabetsu ka: shūkan kinyōbi no ‘sabetsu hyōgen’ jiken (Tokyo: Potto Shuppan, 2002).

36 Kazama Takashi, Chūsei ningen, 24-5.

37 Shimizu, Akiko, ‘Imported’ Feminism, 90.

38 Saitō, Bakkurashu, 97.

39 Oguie Chiki. “Seiken yotō no bakkurasshu,” [The backlash of the ruling party and administration]. In Bakkurashu! Naze jendā furī wa tatakareta no ka [Backlash! Why was gender free attacked?] (Tokyo: Sōfūsha, 2006) 357-367: 357-8.

40 Gender Cabinet Equality Office. “Jimintō kageki na sei kyōiku/jendā furī kyōiku jittai chōsa purojekuto chimu kaigō (7 gatsu 7 nichi) teishutsu shiryō,” [LDP team for investigating the state of radical sex education and gender free education July 7 informational materials] July 7, 2005.

41 Abe Shinzō. Utsukushii kuni e [Towards a beautiful country] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 2005) p. 316-317.

42 Yokō Toshinari. “Chihō jichitai no seisaku tenkan ni okeru SNS o mochiita shakai undō no furēmingu kōka: Shibuya ku ‘dōseiai pātonāshippu jōrei’ no seitei katei o jirei ni,” [The Framing Effect of Social Movement Using SNS in Policy Change of Local Government—Based on the Case of the Policy Making Process on Shibuya City's “Same-Sex Partnership Ordinance”] Annual Review of the Institute for Advanced Social Research Vol. 16, March 2019, 1-16.

43 Tokyo Graffiti. “INTERVIEW,” Vol. 117, April 2015, p. 29.

44 Kawasaka also notes that the ordinance places burdens on same-sex couples not placed on opposite-sex couples, including the requirement that their partnership not be “against public order and decency,” (Kōjo ryōzoku ni han shinai kagiri). See Kawasaka. Jinken' ka ‘tokken’ ka ‘onkei’ ka, 91-2.

45 Akitomo Shingae. “Daibashitei suishin to LGBT/SOGI no yukue: Ichijou ka sareru shakai undou,” [Diversity promotion and LGBT/SOGI: the marketization of social activism] in Tayōsei to no taiwa: Daibashitei suishin ga mienakusuru mono [A Debate with Diversity: What Diversity Promotion Obscures] edited by Iwabuchi Kōichi (Tokyo: Seikyūsha, 2021) 37.

46 Lisa Duggan. The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy (Boston MA: Beacon Press Books, 2003): 50.

47 Myrl Beam. “What's love got to do with it? Queer politics and the ‘love pivot’,” in Queer Activism After Marriage Equality, edited by Joseph Nicholas DeFilippis, Michael W. Yarbrough, and Angela Jones (New York: Routledge, 2018) pp. 53-60: 59.

48 KIRA and Esumureruda. Dōsei pattonashippu shōmei, hajimarimashita [Same-Sex Partnership Certificates Have Begun] (Tokyo: Potto Shuppan, 2015) 27.

49 Matsunaka Gon. “Shibuya ouen! Minna ni yasashii Nihon wo mezashite, ‘dōsei pattonashippu shōmeisho’ wo jitsugen shitekudasai! Let's take action and make a change starting from Shibuya! ‘Same-sex partnership certificate,‘” Change.org, February 18, 2015. Accessed August 1, 2021.

50 Nikaidō, Seiji no genba, 92.

51 Hasebe has not only described LGBT people as uniquely creative, but also as assets indispensable to making Shibuya a ‘cool town’ (kakkoii machi) as well as an ‘international city’ (Kokusai toshi); see Dōsei pattonashippu shōmei, hajimarimashita, 28-29; 30.

52 Shimizu Akiko. “Yōkoso, gei furendori na machi he: supesu to sekushuaru mainoretei,” [Welcome to a Gay-Friendly City: Space and Sexual Minorities] Gendai Shisō 43(16) October 2015, pp. 144-155; See also Noah McCormack and Kohei Kawabata, “Inclusion and Exclusion in Neoliberalizing Japan,” Cultural and Social Division in Contemporary Japan: Rethinking Discourses of Inclusion and Exclusion, edited by Yoshikazu Shiobara, Kohei Kawabata and Joel Matthews (New York: Routledge, 2020) pp. 24-51: 38-41.

53 Dai 187 kai kokkai shūgiin honkaigi dai 9 gō Heisei 26 nen 10 gatsu 31 nichi [Minutes of the 187th Session of the House of Representatives of the Diet, Volume 9], October 31, 2014 p. 11.

54 Mark Ealey and Satoko Oka Normitsu. “Japan's Far-right Politicians, Hate Speech and Historical Denial – Branding Okinawa as ‘Anti-Japan.‘” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Volume 16, Issue 3, Number 2, February 1, 2018

55 Sugita Mio. “LGBT shiensaku ga hitsuyō de nai riyū watashi no kangae,” [The reason LGBT support policies aren't necessary: my thoughts] Ameba Blog, March 26, 2015.

56 Asahi Shimbun. “Henshūchou ga ‘bōsō‘ shi shimen kagekika Shinchō 45 no jōren hissha shiteki,” [Shinchō 45's regular contributors identify the editor-in-chief as acting recklessly and radicalizing [the] magazine]. September 9, 2018

57 Litera. “’Shinchō 45’ Kyūkan seimei no uso! Sugita Mio yōgō, LGBT sabetsu wa ‘henshūbu’ de naku ‘torishimaruyaku’ ga GO wo dashiteita,” [Shinchō 45's ‘ceasing publication’ lie! Sugita Mio's defense and LGBT discrimination were given the go-ahead not by the editorial board, but by the board of directors] Last updated September 26, 2018

58 Sugita Mio. “‘LGBT’ shien nanka iranai,” [There is no need to support something like ‘LGBT‘] Shinchō 45 35 (11), November 2016, pp. 58-61.

59 Sugita Mio. “LGBT shien no do ga sugiru,” [The level of LGBT support is excessive]. Shinchō 45 37 (8) August 2018, pp. 57-60: 58.

60 Ibid., 59.

61 Ibid., 60.

62 Asahi Shimbun. “Dōseikon ”shumi mitai na mono,“ netto bangumi de jimin Tanigawa shi,” [LDP Representative Tanigawa on Internet Program: Homosexuality is “something like a hobby”] August 1, 2018

63 Otsuji Kanoko. Twitter Post. July 20, 2018, 3:37AM.

64 Udagawa Shii. “Sugita Mio giin no ‘sabetsu hatsugen’ ni kōgi suru demo ni, naze 5000 nin mo atsumatta no ka: sekushuaru mainoriti igai ni mo hirogatta rentai no wa,” [Why did up to 5000 people come to protest Representative Sugita Mio's ‘discriminatory comments’ the ring of solidarity expanded beyond sexual minorities] Huffington Post Japan, July 29, 2018

65 LGBT Rengō Kai [Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation]. “Shūgi giin Sugita Mio shi no ronkō ” ‘LGBT’ shien no do ga sugiru' ni taisuru kōgi hyōmei,“ [Declaration of Protest to House of Representatives Member Sugita Mio's article ”The level of LGBT support is excessive“]. July 23, 2018

66 Udagawa Shii, Sugita Mio, unpaginated.

67 Nikkan Sports. “‘Sabetsu wo suru na’ Sugita Mio shi no jinin motome daikibo demo [Don't discriminate: Large scale protests call for Sugita Mio's resignation]. July 27, 2018

68 Tokyo Rainbow Pride. “#0727 Sugita Mio no giin jinin o motomeru jimintō honbu mae kōgi de no supichī no zenbun o keisai shimasu [Publishing the speech given at the 0727 protests in front of LDP headquarters calling for Sugita Mio's resignation in their entirety] Accessed December 13, 2020.

69 Udagawa Shii, Sugita Mio giin, unpaginated.

70 Gōto Junichi. “Sugita Mio mondai 2: ‘Nihon no Sutōnwōru to natta kōgi shūkai’ [Sugita Mio problem 2: The protest assembly that became ‘Japan's Stonewall’ GladXX; Matsuoka Sōshi, ”‘Watashitachi wa mou damaranai,‘ LGBT wo meguru 2018 nen no shakai no ugoki wo furikaeru [“We can't be silent”: looking back at the social changes for LGBT in 2018] Fair, December 30, 2018. Accessed December 13, 2020.

71 Utagawa Shii, Sugita Mio giin, unpaginated.

72 Ibid.

73 The organizing page for the August 5th protests (termed 0805 Pride Day by organizers)

74 Asahi Shimbun. “Sugita Mio giin no hatsugen ‘sabetsu da’ ‘mazu shazai wo’ kōgi demo,” [“It's discrimination,” “First, apologize,” demonstration against Representative Sugita Mio's comments] August 5, 2018

75 The River. “2018.08.05 '#0805 Sugita Mio giin no sabetsu hatsugen ni kōgi suru Shibuya hachikō mae gaisen: Utagawa Shii san (furīransu/editā/raitā) [#0805 Protests at Hachiko, Shibuya against Representative Sugita Mio's discriminatory comments]: Utagawa Shii (Freelance editor/writer) 2018.08.05.” YouTube Video, 7:05. August 5, 2018.

76 The River. “2018.08.05' #0805 Sugita Mio giin no sabetsu hatsugen ni kōgi suru Shibuya hachikō mae gaisen: Kitamura Yūji san (jānarisuto/koramunisuto) 8/11.” [#0805 Protests at Hachiko, Shibuya against Representative Sugita Mio's discriminatory comments: Kitamura Yūji san (Journalist, columnist)]. YouTube Video, 10:10, August 5, 2018

77 Asahi, Sugita Mio, unpaginated.

78 Mainichi Shimbun. “ ‘Seisansei ga nai’ wa Nachi no yūsei shisō shikishara hihan kaigai medeia mo hōdō [They lack productivity is Nazi eugenicist thought: criticism from intellectuals, also reported in overseas media] July 28, 2018 (Updated July 28, 2018).

79 Tanaka Satoko. “Sugita shi no ‘seisansei nai’ ni kōgi hyōmei shōgaisha ya nanbyō kanja ra [Declaration of protest by disabled people and people with intractable illnesses against Sugita's ‘no productivity’ comments] Asahi Shimbun Digital, August 7, 2018

80 IWJ Independent Web Journal. “Ikari no onna demo 8/19 Kyoto,” [Women's anger demonstration in Kyoto, August 19] August 19, 2018 LGBT Rikai Zōshin Kai [Association for Raising LGBT Understanding]. “‘Kinkyū hyōmei’ Sugita Mio shūgiin giin no keisai kiji ni taishite [Declaration of emergency: on Lower House Representative Sugita Mio's article] Hatena Blog, July 23, 2018.

81 Okano Yayo. “Sabetsu hatsugen to, seijiteki bumyaku no jūyōsei: ‘LGBT shien no do ga sugiru’ no konkan,” [Discriminatory comments and the importance of political context: the foundation of 'The level of LGBT support is excessive] Sekai Vol. 913 (September 2018) pp. 140-9: 141; see also “Sabetsu ga sabetsu to ninshiki sarenai kuni ni ikiteite,” [Living in a country that doesn't recognize discrimination as discrimination] Ovā Vol. 2 (January 2020) p. 6-17.

82 Iwanaga Naoko. “‘Seisansei’ to wa nani ka? Sugita giin no kataru koto to, shōgaisha undo no motometekita koto Kumagaya Shinichirō intabyū [What is ‘productivity‘? What Representative Sugita discusses and what the disabled seek; an interview with Kumagaya Shinichiro.] Buzzfeed News Japan, September 26, 2018

83 Ogawa Eitarō. “Seiji wa ‘ikizurasa’ to iu shukan o sukuenai,” [The government cannot save you from the objective ‘pain of life‘]. Shinchō 45 Vol. 39, October 2018, 84-89.

84 Harimaya Takumi. “Shinchō 45 mondai ni tsuite geneki shain ni kiita ‘henshūbu wa mōsei o’ ‘saiaku no shuppan datta’ [I asked current employees about the Shinchō 45 problem - ‘the editorial department should reflect,’ ‘the worst publication’.] Buzzfeed News Japan, September 23, 2018

85 Abema News Channel. “Dokusen! Sugita Mio giin to Inada Tomomi giin ga Shinjuku Ni-Chōme de LGBT no minasan to taidan,” [Exclusive! Representatives Sugita Mio and Inada Tomomi have a face to face conversation with LGBT people at Shinjuku Ni-Chōme] April 28, 2019,

86 See Hatakeno Tomato. “Tokyo Reinbō Puraido Chokuzen! ”Seisansei o hatsugen o wasurete wa ikenai,“ [Standing before Tokyo Rainbow Pride! We can't forget those comments about productivity] April 27, 2019

87 Yamaga Saya. Dōnyū jichitai wa 100 koe! ‘Dōsei pātonāshippu seido’ no ima [More than 100 municipalities have introduced them! The current state of ‘same sex partnership systems‘]. Cosmopolitan Japan, April 9, 2021; See also Nijiro Diversity, “Chihō jichitai no patonashippu seido tōroku kensū” [The number of recorded regional municipal same-sex partnership systems] April 16, 2021

88 Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai. “Kakutō no kōyaku,” [2019 Campaign manifestos of each party] Undated, https://www.nhk.or.jp/senkyo/database/kouyaku/2019/seisaku/08.html Accessed August 1, 2021.

89 The Japan Times. “Japan court rules failure to recognize same-sex marriage unconstitutional.” March 17, 2021 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/03/17/national/crime-legal/same-sex-marriage-landmark-ruling/

90 Alex Bollinger. “Japan's Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Forced Sterilization of Trans People.” LGBTQ Nation, January 25, 2019, https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/01/japans-supreme-court-rules-favor-forced-sterilization-trans-people/

91 Matusoka Sōshi. “Jimintō ga teian shi mizukara tsubushita ‘LGBT shinhō’ wo meguru ‘6 nenkan no keii’,” [The ‘6-year long process’ by which the LDP proposed and destroyed its own ‘New LGBT bill‘]. Gendai Bijinesu, June 15, 2021, https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/84156?imp=0, 3.

92 Ibid., 4.

93 Ibid., 3.

94 Nikaidō Yuki. “Kore wa sensō, de wa nai: LGBT rikai zōshin hōan miokuri,” [This, is not war: the shelving of the LGBT Awareness Raising Bill]. Sekai, August 2021, pp. 10-15: 12.

95 Ibid., 11; 14.

96 Ibid., 15.

97 Matusoka, LGBT shinhō, 5.

98 Nikaidō Kore wa sensō, 14.

99 Matusoka, LGBT shinhō, 6.

100 Ibuki Saori. “‘Inochi o mamoru hōritsu wo tsukutte kudaisai’: Jimintō giin no sabetsu hatsugen, ima tōjisha tachi gai tsutaetai omoi [‘Please make a law that protects life’: The thoughts that LGBT people want to express regarding LDP members' discriminatory comments] Buzzfeed Japan, May 30, 2021

101 Nikaidō, Kore wa sensō, 15.