Photo/Illutration Until recently, transgender women who wanted to legally change their gender typically underwent both bottom and sterilization surgery to meet the law's "appearance requirement."

A high court in western Japan on July 10 ruled in favor of a transgender woman’s gender change in the family register despite her not undergoing surgery.

The ruling is significant because of the special law regarding gender identity disorder.

Of the five stipulations for a gender change is the "appearance requirement" where the individual must “possess an appearance similar to the genitalia of the relevant gender in order for their status to change.”

To meet this requirement, bottom surgery, among other procedures, has been required, in principle.

The petitioner in this case was born a male and identifies as a woman.

Although the petitioner has not undergone surgery, the high court concluded that she met the law's appearance requirement as she now has more stereotypically feminine features that are a result of hormone therapy.

The court pointed out that if the appearance requirement is interpreted as always requiring surgery, it may be unconstitutional.

"It is sufficient if the appearance of the person's genitalia does not cause others to doubt the individual's transition," it said. 

Another requirement for a gender change in the family register stipulated by the special law is the “sterility requirement.” Specifically, the person seeking a gender change should “have no reproductive glands, or their functions should be permanently lost.”

The petitioner filed for a gender update in 2019 without having either surgery.

Both a family court and the high court that heard the case decided that the petitioner did not meet the sterility requirement and did not approve the gender change.

The Supreme Court’s Grand Bench then heard the case and ruled in October 2023 that the sterility requirement is “unconstitutional and invalid.”

However, since the lower courts had not ruled on whether the petitioner met the appearance requirement, the Supreme Court did not reach a conclusion on whether to approve the plaintiff's actual gender change and sent the case back to the high court.

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