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For L.G.B.T.Q. people in Japan, to live openly is a radical act.

Figuring out who they are can be an isolating struggle.

We spoke with eight Japanese about how they discovered their identities.

But gender and sexual identity is only a part of who they really are.

As I Am: L.G.B.T.Q. in Japan

Photographs and Video by Chang W. Lee

Text by Motoko Rich and Hisako Ueno

Oct. 9, 2024

In Japan, same-sex unions remain outlawed, and children who don’t conform to traditional gender norms are routinely bullied. Japanese who are gay, transgender or nonbinary must stake out their own distinctive paths.

In these interviews, L.G.B.T.Q. Japanese — some of whom spoke despite fears of being ostracized — talked about their daily rhythms and routines. While some are politically active, others prefer to let their personal lives speak for their desire to be accepted.

‘I thought they wouldn’t be able to understand even if I tried to tell them how much I loved my girlfriend.’

When Hitomi Sawabe, 72, was in high school in Tokyo, she was told that homosexuality was akin to measles — something that could be cured.

Her affection for other women did not feel to her like an illness. Yet she was afraid to share with her family the true nature of her relationships.

In Japan at the time, public images of lesbians tended to show them in pornographic contexts. On a trip to the United States with her partner at the time, Ms. Sawabe discovered a community that “felt free of gender,” and she was inspired to write about her own sexuality back in Japan.

She published essays, a survey of women’s sexuality and a biography about a lesbian relationship between a well-known Japanese novelist and her lover. Ms. Sawabe herself had a 10-year relationship with a woman that collapsed when her partner grew weary of Ms. Sawabe’s intense devotion to her writing and decided to marry a man and have children.

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