Out Spotlight LXXXVII

Today's Out Spotlight is Kanako Otsuji. Born December 16, 1974 in Nara Japan, Kanako Otsuji is a Japanese LGBT rights activist and former member of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly (April 2003–April 2007). She was one of only seven women in the 110-member Osaka Assembly, Otsuji
represented the Sakai-ku, Sakai City constituency.

Otsuji was an Asian Junior karate champion, later enrolling at Seoul University to study Korean and tae kwon do. Her goal was to go to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 but was unsuccessful in making the national team. She returned to Japan and enrolled at Doshisha University in Kyoto, where she first became interested in politics.

At 28 she became the youngest person ever elected to the Osaka Assembly. She later joined Rainbow and Greens, a new Japanese political coalition dedicated to developing an alternative society based on ecological politics, participatory political ideas and decentralization.

Then in August 2005, Otsuji published an autobiography Coming Out: A Journey to Find My True Self, and in doing so came out as Japan's first lesbian politician, the day before 2005 Tokyo Pride. This in a country where people in public positions seldom come out as homosexual for fear it could destroy their careers. An estimated 1 million or more gay people live in Japan.

In Japan, homosexuality has long been accepted in fact but not openly discussed.
In medieval times, homosexual relationships were an open secret among priests, nuns and samurai knights. (Great article on same sex samurai relationships - here)

Although gays and lesbians in Japan do not encounter outright hostility, Otsuji said Japan was behind many Western countries in awareness of sexual diversity.

That same year she was instrumental in bringing about legislative change that allowed same-sex couples to rent housing from the Osaka Prefectural Housing Corporation, a privilege previously reserved for married couples. Since same-sex marriages are not recognized under Japanese law, gay couples in Osaka had previously found it impossible to rent public housing.

In March-April 2006, Otsuji attended International Lesbian and Gay Association's world conference in Geneva and visited the United States on a trip sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program of the US Department of State. During her visit she met representatives from the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Association of LGBT Community Centers, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Freedom to Marry and the Stonewall Democrats.

She chose not to run for re-election in April 2007 to the Osaka Assembly, but decided to run as an official candidate list of the Democratic Party of Japan, becoming the first-ever openly gay serious contender for election to Japan's parliament. Otsuji fell short of her goal. There have been no openly gay elected officials in Japan since she stepped down from the Osaka Assembly.



June 3, 2007, Otsuji married her partner Maki Kimura, in a public ceremony in Nagoya during an HIV/AIDS prevention festival called Nagoya Lesbian Gay Revolution.Some 1,000 guests attended the wedding.

Although same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in Japan, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa, the Secretary General of the Party, Yukio Hatoyama, and Fusae Ota, the Governor of Osaka all sent congratulatory telegrams.

Kanako Otsuji Official Site

Bay Area Reporter