7 years after Japanese student’s death, has anything changed for LGBT community?

A promising law student took his own life in 2015, at a time a grass roots shift in LGBT acceptance among Japanese was occurring

Years later, even as sexual and gender diversity are increasingly normalised, a chasm still remains between the public and politicians

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Alienating attitudes towards LGBT people persist in Japan, despite younger generations embracing diversity. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 1:30pm, 19 Feb 2022Updated: 1:26am, 21 Apr 2023

When Yuji Takei (name changed to protect his identity) confessed his feelings to a fellow classmate in the spring of 2015, the promising law student from one of Japan’s top universities didn’t know what to expect.

But the last thing he anticipated was for the recipient of his affections to spread the news he was gay to other students without his consent. Until then, Takei had hidden his sexuality from almost everyone except a few close friends, with even his family kept in the dark.

Traumatised at being outed, Takei’s mental health rapidly declined. Once bright and energetic, he became withdrawn and developed depression. Being in the same room as the classmate gave him so much anxiety that he would sometimes throw up.

Pushed to the brink, he finally told his peers he could no longer envision life as a lawyer if he had to operate in the same professional circle as the classmate, and took his own life at a Hitotsubashi University building on a balmy summer day two months later. He would not live to see the changes that were rapidly in progress in terms of LGBT rights in Japan.

Sexuality in Japan

While Japan is today a generally conservative nation when it comes to LGBT issues, history suggests it was not always so.

Before the arrival of Western values in the 19th century, there was evidence of homosexuality in Japanese society. In the Samurai eras that dated back to at least eight centuries ago, there was a system of gay relationships known as shudō, between senior and younger warriors. Except for a brief period around the 1860s in the early Meiji era, gay sex had not been criminalised in Japan.

7 years after Japanese student’s death, has anything changed for LGBT community?

A promising law student took his own life in 2015, at a time a grass roots shift in LGBT acceptance among Japanese was occurring Years later, even as sexual and gender diversity are increasingly normalised, a chasm still remains between the public and politicians

Sexuality in Japan

A promising law student took his own life in 2015, at a time a grass roots shift in LGBT acceptance among Japanese was occurring

Years later, even as sexual and gender diversity are increasingly normalised, a chasm still remains between the public and politicians