Tokyo is one of Japan's leading jurisdictions when it comes to civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Jurisdictions in Tokyo were among the first to establish partnership registries for same-sex couples, and Tokyo became the tenth prefecture-level government to establish a registry in November 2022. Previously in 2018, Tokyo became the first prefecture-level government to enact an LGBT-inclusive human rights law protecting against discrimination and hate speech.
Recognition of same-sex unions
Municipal partnership registries
On April 1, 2015, Shibuya in central Tokyo announced it would offer same-sex couples special "partnership certificates" ((, , ), also known as "partnership certification system" (, )). While these licenses are not legally recognized as marriage certificates, they may be used in civil matters such as hospital visitation rights and housing. The Shibuya city office began accepting applications on 28 October 2015. In response to this action by the Shibuya city office, the "Special Committee to Protect Family Ties" (, ) of the federal ruling Liberal Democratic Party was formed in March 2015 to discuss the matter. An officer from the Ministry of Justice who was invited to comment stated that the action by Shibuya is legal because the certificate issued is not a marriage certificate and the current Japanese legal code does not prohibit the "partnership" of same-sex couples. In July 2015, Setagaya announced it would be joining Shibuya in issuing partnership certificates from 5 November.
in May 2021, 12 municipalities in Tokyo, Adachi, Bunkyō, Edogawa, Fuchū, Koganei, Kokubunji, Kunitachi, Minato, Nakano, Setagaya, Shibuya and Toshima, agreed to mutually recognize each others' partnership certificates. Other wards, including Tama, Kita, Musashino and Arakawa, have established registries since, with the city of Machida set to launch a registry in March 2023.
As of June 2022, 604 same-sex partnerships had been registered within Tokyo's cities and wards.
On June 21, 2023, the Special Wards Personnel and Welfare Affairs Association, which coordinates the salary system of Tokyo's 23 wards, directed the ward governments to treat same-sex partners of ward employees as "spouses", in line with the Tokyo metropolitan government's policy for their own employees.
List of wards and municipalities
Cities are bolded:
Shibuya (28 October 2015) Setagaya (5 November 2015) Nakano (20 August 2018) Edogawa (1 April 2019) Fuchū (1 April 2019) Toshima (1 April 2019) Bunkyō (1 April 2020) Minato (1 April 2020) Koganei (20 October 2020) Kokubunji (15 November 2020) Adachi (1 April 2021) Kunitachi (1 April 2021) Tama (1 February 2022) Kita (1 April 2022) Musashino (1 April 2022) Arakawa (25 April 2022) Chōfu (15 March 2023) Hino (1 April 2023) Machida (1 April 2023) Sumida (1 April 2023) Suginami (24 April 2023) Itabashi (1 November 2023)
Measures to allow partnership certificates have been proposed in several other administrative wards in Tokyo, such as Chiyoda, Chūō, Katsushika, Kōtō, Nerima, Shinjuku, and Taitō, as well as the city of Higashimurayama.