A transgender man in central Japan filed a request Monday with a court to switch gender in his family registry without having sex reassignment surgery as currently required by law.
Gen Suzuki, 46, who lives as a man but is listed as a woman in the family registry, filed the request with the Hamamatsu branch of the Shizuoka Family Court, insisting a person's own gender identity should be respected without the need for surgery.
Corrections to family registers, which record information about the identity of citizens such as gender as well as family relationships, require permission from family courts.