LGBTQIA+ Issues

While the Japanese Constitution promises equal rights to all citizens and prohibits discrimination on all grounds, in practice, those who identify as LGBTQIA+ receive far more limited protection under the law due to a lack of anti-discrimination laws.

Many laws that are intended to prevent domestic abuse simply do not apply to individuals who are not considered straight or gender-normative. This especially applies in the rural areas, which can be quite traditionally conservative.

Public displays of affection, while a source of great contention in Western culture in LGBTQIA+ rights, are not so much in Japanese culture. It is extraordinarily rare for PDAs to occur even between straight gender-normative couples in public, as Japanese culture heavily frowns upon them. Nevertheless, it is frowned upon all the more for couples who do not fit into the box of traditional values, and would be seen as a 'nail that must be hammered down' by those traditionalists who witness it. An example noted is that LGBTQIA+ couples are often turned away from love hotels that don't want to be known as that kind of establishment.

At the time of our game's start, in 2012, there are no arrangements for partnership oaths between same-sex couples in Japan. However, strides toward LGBTQIA+ rights have been made, predominantly in the urban areas such as Tokyo, and activist groups are speaking positively of the potential for convincing wards to recognize LGBTQIA+ couples. (In 2025, those strides have seen several wards of Tokyo -- as well as, notably, several other prefectures -- recognizing these partnership oaths. However, these agreements are not universally recognized throughout Japan, and are more limited than marriage.)

The issue of marriage in particular leads many LGBTQIA+ youth to feel the social pressure that holding such identities is considered 'childish' and that they must grow up into being a part of a traditional family structure. This is further fostered by marriage being considered a 'business' arrangement to many Japanese for the sake of shared finances and children. It is a common narrative conceit that many Japanese youth in such relationships have decided to 'grow up' by becoming more gender-normative and seek a heterosexual relationship as a result. While data on the actual incidence is sparse, it is easy to understand why that might be, since outing one's self carries great stigma.

Employment discrimination has yet to be addressed by law, and businesses frequently exclude individuals who are openly of LGBTQIA+ identity from hiring. Within schools, students who identify as such experience higher rates of bullying, including being ignored or excluded in class, and teachers simply turning a blind eye to bullying against them.

In Japanese media, the existence of LGBTQIA+ media conversely is more accepted as a part of manga and anime culture. However, it is also often more fetishized by the fandoms that consume such media. Yaoi, also known as boys' love or BL, is a genre that involves the love between two men and is often associated with a demographic of female fans pejoratively known as 'fujoshi,' or 'rotten women.' Meanwhile, yuri, a genre that involves the love between two women, while noted to often be created for wider audiences, is not infrequently classified as 'seinen' media, targeted at young men.

Many Western and Japanese audiences still nevertheless find the presence of such media empowering, or valuable as a form of expression, but a frequent criticism is that LGBTQIA+ media is more accepted as a consumer fetish than it is in real life within Japan.