Japanese court upholds marriage law

The Osaka court rejected arguments from three same-sex couples that their rights to free union and equality had been violated by Japan’s law defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The lawsuit is one of many raised by 14 couples in five major cities across Japan, which is the only member of the Group of Seven major industrial nations that doesn’t recognize same-sex unions.

What do the Japanese people think? Public opinion in Japan favors legalizing same-sex marriage, but the issue remains divisive within the country’s legal community. A judge in one of the other five cities, Sapporo, ruled differently from the Osaka court, saying that the country’s marriage law is unconstitutional.

Dig deeper: Listen to my report on The World and Everything in It podcast about how Japan and South Korea are hoping to move past a difficult history.