The Tokyo Family Court approved a bid by transsexual entertainer Maki Carrousel, 61, to change her officially registered sex to female from male, her spokesman said Monday.
Carrousel was informed of the court approval late last month, the spokesman said.
She was among the first to make applications to family courts nationwide when landmark legislation took effect in July enabling people with gender identity disorder to change their sex in family registries under certain conditions.
The change to her family registry will take about two weeks. After that, Carrousel will have changes made to her passport, health insurance certificate and other official papers, according to the spokesman.
Upon the sex change in the family registry, she will alter her real name, Tetsuo Hirahara, a typical male name, to Maki Hirahara.
A native of Kushiro, Hokkaido, Hirahara was born a male. She underwent a sex-change operation in Morocco at the age of 30. She has used the stage name Carrousel for decades.