JAPAN

64% favor recognizing same-sex marriage in Japan, poll finds

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepares to speak to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Feb. 3. Masayoshi Arai (right), one of his executive secretaries, was sacked the next day. | KYODO

Kyodo

Feb 13, 2023

Sixty-four percent of respondents to a Kyodo News poll said same-sex marriage should be recognized in Japan, with the findings coming amid growing criticism of the government's conservative stance toward LGBTQ issues.

In the telephone survey, conducted over a three-day period from Saturday and published Monday, 88.4% also said recent remarks hostile to LGBTQ people by an executive secretary to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were inappropriate.

Earlier this month, Masayoshi Arai, an elite bureaucrat, was sacked after saying during an off-the-record conversation with reporters that he would "not want to live next door" to an LGBTQ couple and that he does "not even want to look at" LGBTQ people.

64% favor recognizing same-sex marriage in Japan, poll finds

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