Curb your enthusiasm about same-sex marriage in Japan

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The ruling of a district court in the progressive region of Hokkaido in Japan that failure to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional is encouraging, but might face hurdles as it goes up the chain of the country’s judicial system, according to Annelise Riles, professor of law and executive director of the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University.

Professor Riles is available to discuss the intricacies of the ruling. She can be reached by contacting Mohamed Abdelfattah at mohamed@northwestern.edu.

Quote from Professor Riles:
"Japan’s constitution explicitly forbids discrimination based on ‘sex’ and ‘social status.’ However, the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on gender equality, has up to this point, remained underdeveloped, with very few cases interpreting the meaning of this language.  

“This is an exciting decision, but it is only a decision of a district court, from the traditionally progressive region of Hokkaido. We often see a pattern in Japanese cases involving important social or political issues, from environmental litigation to the rights of minorities to compensation for wartime atrocities and the representation of those atrocities in Japanese textbooks, in which the district court issues a sweeping and powerful decision in favor of social change, only to see the decision overturned by higher courts on procedural grounds. 

“The higher courts in those cases importantly leave the substance of the lower court judgment as is without comment for or against, thus arguably giving it rhetorical value, but ultimately undermining the legal result. We will have to see what higher courts do in this case, therefore. Certainly, the fact that so many democracies around the world, including Japan’s neighbors such as Taiwan, have recognized the legality of same-sex marriage, will influence the court’s thinking on this matter."