First gay candidate runs in Japan

First gay candidate runs in Japan
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Friday May 25, 2007
Guardian

Kanako Otsuji, Japan's first openly gay politician, is to run in July's national elections in what she says is a challenge to official ignorance of the country's "hidden" minority groups.

Officials yesterday confirmed that the Democratic party, Japan's largest opposition party, had endorsed Ms Otsuji, 32, to run in the July 22 election for the upper house of parliament.

In 2003 Ms Otsuji, running as an independent, became the youngest ever candidate to win a seat on the Osaka prefectural assembly at the age of 28, one of only seven women on the 110-seat legislature.

She successfully campaigned to change a local law to allow same-sex couples to rent public housing in Osaka, which had previously been available only to married couples. Same-sex unions are not recognised by Japanese law.

Midway through her four-year term Ms Otsuji decided to go public about her sexual orientation with the publication of her autobiography, Coming Out: A Journey to Find Myself. Though she did not attempt to hide her sexual orientation during the Osaka election campaign, her aides persuaded her not to mention it for fear that it would drive away voters.

Ms Otsuji said prime minister Shinzo Abe's vision of a "Beautiful Japan" ignored the diversity of Japanese society. "There is a tendency to put forward one set of values," she said. "But the reality is becoming more diverse. Japanese society is not engaging with the wide range of people living in diverse ways, in terms of nationality, race, sex, age and disabilities."


Japan Opposition Party Fields Lesbian Candidate
Japan's main opposition party is fielding an openly lesbian candidate for July's upper house elections.
Reuters

Japan's main opposition party is fielding an openly lesbian candidate for July's upper house elections, in an unprecedented move for the country's conservative political world.

The Democratic Party has endorsed 32-year-old Kanako Otsuji, a former local assemblywoman and outspoken campaigner for gay and other minority rights, as a candidate for the upcoming national poll, an official at her office said on Thursday.

"This is the first time a national political party has officially fielded an openly gay person," the official said.

Otsuji came out midway through her four years as a member of the local assembly in the western city of Osaka, writing a book about her experience and taking part in gay and lesbian rallies.

Her candidacy comes as Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party pushes a traditional values agenda under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who often speaks of his wish to create a "Beautiful Japan."

"I am very grateful to the Democratic Party for giving me this chance," Otsuji said in a message on her Web site.

"In today's society, I think there is a tendency to put forward one set of values and make it seem as though that is the only beautiful or right way," she said. "But the reality is becoming more diverse. Japanese society is not engaging with the wide range of people living in diverse ways, in terms of nationality, race, sex, age and disabilities."


ABC Radio Australia
Radio Australia - News - Japan's Democratic Party fields Lesbian candidate
Last Updated 24/05/2007, 21:38:09

Japan's main opposition party is fielding an openly lesbian candidate for July's upper house elections, in an unprecedented move for the country's conservative political world.

The Democratic Party has endorsed 32-year-old Kanako Otsuji, a former local assemblywoman and outspoken campaigner for gay and other minority rights.

An official at her office says it's the first time a national political party has officially fielded an openly gay person.

Ms Otsuji came out midway through her four years as a member of the local assembly in the western city of Osaka, writing a book about her experience and taking part in gay and lesbian rallies.

"I am very grateful to the Democratic Party for giving me this chance," Ms Otsuji said in a message on her Web site.

"In today's society, I think there is a tendency to put forward one set of values and make it seem as though that is the only beautiful or right way.

"But the reality is becoming more diverse.

"Japanese society is not engaging with the wide range of people living in diverse ways, in terms of nationality, race, sex, age and disabilities."

Lesbian candidate a first for Japan
23rd May 2007 12:49
Tony Grew
Pinknews.co.uk

Japan’s second largest political party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), announced that Kanako Otsuji, the first openly lesbian politician in Japan, will be one of the party’s official candidates for this summer’s National Diet (parliament) election.

Ms Otsuji, 32, was elected as an Osaka Assembly Member in April 2003.

In August 2005, she came out of the closet in her book Coming Out and marched in the Tokyo Pride Parade (formerly known as Tokyo Lesbian & Gay Parade) along with about 2,500 people.

In her book, Ms Otsuji said:

"I believe coming out (as a lesbian) is the best thing that I can do for society to encourage people.

"I want to establish a society where everybody can be who they really are."

In May 2006 she worked with the organisers of Tokyo Pride, the Rainbow March In Sapporo and GayJapanNews for Act Against Homophobia.

The following month, she visited Washington D.C. and San Francisco through the International Visitor Leadership Programme operated by the US State Department.

Ms Otsuji has a good record of fighting for gay rights in Japan.

The major political parties in the country, including the DPJ, are reluctant to directly support gay rights, preferring instead to concentrate on wider discrimination issues.

Homosexual male sexual conduct is not illegal, but some regions (prefectures) have an unequal age of consent. The age for heterosexual consent is 13.

In October 2005, Osaka Prefecture started the House Sharing System which allows gay couples and other forms of couples that are not legally recognised as family to live in residences managed and operated by Osaka Housing Supply Corporation.

In 2005 and early 2007, Ms Otsuji submitted two statements about people with Gender Identity Disorder in cooperation with the New Komeito Party and other groups.

These statements were adopted by the Osaka Assembly.

Ms Otsuji didn't run in April’s local election because she had already decided to run for the upcoming national election.

In the local election, one gay and three transgender candidates campaigned, but only one transgender candidate, Aya Kamikawa, was re-elected to her second term.

Ms Otsuji says she thinks that she has to bring LGBT people’s voices to the National Diet and has made it her goal to seek a seat for that end.

DPJ leaders said they decided to endorse Ms Otsuji as an official party candidate to "bring society’s attention to the discriminated people."

If she wins, she’ll be the first openly LGBT national politician ever in Japan.


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Japan's lesbian lawmaker aims to move up
Thursday, May 24, 2007 / 02:14 PM

SUMMARY: Kanako Otsuji, 32, formerly of Osaka's prefectural assembly, says her bid for national office aims to get Japan to acknowledge its diversity.

Kanako Otsuji, Japan's first openly gay politician, announced her decision to run in July's national elections as a challenge to government ignorance.

Officials confirmed that Otsuji, 32, will run on the Democratic Party ticket for the upper house of parliament. The election will be held July 22.

In 2003, at the age of 28, Otsuji became the youngest politician to hold a seat on the Osaka prefectural assembly. She was one of only seven women on the 110-seat body. On her Web site, she boasts of a policy change to get public housing in Osaka, Japan's second-largest city, to rent to same-sex couples.

Halfway through her four-year term, Otsuji came out with the publication of her autobiography, "Coming Out: A Journey to Find Myself."

Although she did not purposefully hide her sexual orientation during the election campaign, her aides persuaded her not to mention it to prevent controversy. Her decision to come out was met with support from voters, but Otsuji has faced ignorance and homophobia among fellow lawmakers.

In a message on her Web site, Otsuji said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has failed to address sexual diversity within Japan.

"I think there is a tendency to put forward one set of values and make it seem as though that is the only beautiful or right way," Otsuji told London's Guardian newspaper.

"But the reality is becoming more diverse. Japanese society is not engaging with the wide range of people living in diverse ways, in terms of nationality, race, sex, age and disabilities," she said. (The Advocate)