LGBTQ+ couples in Japan, unable to marry legally, are celebrating their relationships by donning traditional kimonos and formal suits and gowns for elaborate “photo weddings”. Their romantic poses are artfully shot by professional photographers in studios and natural beauty spots.
These wedding photoshoots become stand-ins for a legal ceremony and for the couple hold all the significance of marriage, a moment to display a love that often must be kept secret. The carefully choreographed images are mostly kept hidden in this conservative society where many LGBTQ+ people say they face prejudice and stigma, even from their own families.
“Not everyone, like my parents or friends, know about our relationship. We thought it would be nice if we could leave a tangible memory, just for the two of us,” said a 40-year-old female office worker who posed with her 35-year-old partner in matching wedding dresses at a studio in Yokohama in November.
She said they had struggled to find a studio that would photograph a same-sex couple on the same day they submitted an application to enter a partnership agreement with their local council. Japan is the only G7 member of industrialised nations that does not recognise same-sex marriage or provide legal protection for LGBTQ+ people, despite polls showing public support and court rulings that have deemed it unconstitutional.
While hundreds of municipalities throughout Japan, covering more than 80% of the population, allow same-sex couples to enter into partnership agreements, their rights are limited. Partners cannot inherit each other’s assets, or have parental rights to each other’s children. Being able to visit their loved ones in hospital isn’t guaranteed.
The conservative government last year also struggled to pass a law meant to tackle discrimination against LGBTQ+ groups.
A 53-year-old office worker, dressed in a suit for a photo wedding at a chapel in Yokohama with his 45-year-old partner, said attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people were shifting, but that society had not caught up. “I don’t know when that will be, but I think one day it will be so common that we don’t even need to use terms like LGBTQ+,” he said.
Onestyle studio, established in 2015, offers photo weddings for more than 2,000 couples a year, and up to 5% of those are for people identifying as LGBTQ+, the founder, Natsue Ikeda, said.
“The photos will be our treasure,” said a 32-year-old female graphic designer who had photos taken with her partner, a 33-year-old transgender man, at Onestyle’s Tokyo studio in August last year. “Even if we get hurt by online comments every day, we’d feel our lives are all right because we’ve had our photos taken.”
Even though some opinion polls show the majority of respondents support same-sex marriage, there is a generational difference in views. A Fuji TV survey last year showed 91.4% of respondents in their late teens and 20s were in favour of same-sex marriage, whereas less than half of those aged 70 or older endorsed it.
“My mother told me she would want me to date a man and have a baby,” said a 27-year-old genderqueer office worker who held a wedding shoot at a traditional garden in Yokohama in March with their partner, a 31-year-old female nurse. “My grandmother warned me not tell my dad and other relatives I’m dating a woman as they would think I’m a pervert,” they added. The couple wore kimonos and custom-made wedding rings featuring each other’s DNA.
“In my mind, it’s just that the person I naturally fell in love with was the same sex,” said the office worker. “I think it’s natural that there are people who do not understand this feeling and I’m not trying to force them to understand.”
Some couples said they had been accepted by family members. “My father had an aversion toward same-sex couples so I was nervous to tell him about living with a woman,” said a 33-year-old woman who works in the service industry. “When I did, he accepted without hesitation.” The woman and her 32-year-old partner said they would give their wedding photos, taken in Tokyo in November, to their parents as gifts and would also show them to friends.
Changes are taking place in Japan, albeit slowly. Facing pressure at home and abroad, Japan passed legislation last year meant to promote understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. But the language was watered down from the original bill after pushback from conservative lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic party, and critics say it provides no guarantees of human rights. In a ruling in March, a high court said Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. An appeal of the ruling has been lodged with the supreme court. Lower courts have also delivered mixed verdicts, with one district court holding the ban to be constitutional, with others saying it is unconstitutional.
An Ipsos poll this year found only 29% of respondents in Japan said they supported LGBTQ+ people being open about their sexual orientation or gender identity, the third lowest level of support among the 26 countries surveyed. Thailand and Spain topped the poll with 68% support, while Turkey had the lowest rate at 21%.
“Legal changes are nice, but they don’t mean much if society as a whole doesn’t start to normalise the existence of LGBTQ+ people,” said a 46-year-old male office worker who posed for photos with his partner in matching blue traditional haori jackets.
