Photo/Illutration Yutaro Fujiyama, left, and Keita Matsuura at a news conference in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, on May 28 (Kengo Hiyoshi)

OMURA, Nagasaki Prefecture—The city government here has issued a certificate of residence to a same-sex couple, listing their relationship in the same way as those in a de facto marriage.

Keita Matsuura, 38, and Yutaro Fujiyama, 39, both residents of Omura city, applied to combine their separate households into one. They requested that Matsuura be registered as “head of the household” and Fujiyama as his “unregistered husband.”

The city granted their request on May 2.

Such a description is used in cases of de facto marriages of opposite-sex couples on administrative documents.

The couple said the recognition of their same-sex de facto marriage in administrative documents is of great significance.

“The possibility of obtaining rights equivalent to those of de facto marriages will arise,” Matsuura said.

A representative of the city explained the decision, “The city confirmed the handling of the case and responded for the applicants.”

Although many local governments across Japan issue certificates for gay couples that give them certain rights, the central government still does not legally recognize same-sex marriages.

A representative of the internal affairs ministry said about the Omura certificate of residence: “This is the first time I have heard of this. I think it is an individual decision made by the municipality.”

In October 2023, the city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture began a system that allows same-sex partners to be listed as “unregistered wife or husband” in the column indicating their relationship on the certificate of residence.

Saori Kamano, a sociology professor at Waseda University who specializes in same-sex issues, said she knew about cases in which gay partners were listed as “cohabitant” or “related person” on the certificate of residence. But she had never heard of case in which they were listed as an unregistered husband or wife.

“If more local governments adopt the same practice as in this case, the actual situation is expected to become more visible,” Kamano said. “It remains to be seen whether they will have the same rights as heterosexual couples in de facto marriages, but it may be the first step toward receiving the same legal guarantees.”

(This article was written by Takashi Ogawa, Yuta Kayaba and Asako Hanafusa.)

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