More Japanese businesses are taking steps to help sexual minorities feel comfortable in the workplace amid a growing movement in society to recognize and accept the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Although the Constitution is interpreted as recognizing only heterosexual marriages, many are hopeful that the recent initiative by Tokyo's Shibuya Ward to issue same-sex partnership certificates will be a crack in the levee of the nation's overall conservative mindset, eventually leading to widespread equality and diversity.
A survey conducted by ad giant Dentsu Inc. in April found that 7.6 percent, or 1 in every 13, of some 70,000 people polled identified themselves as a member of Japan's LGBT community.