Same-Sex Couple Denied Marriage Registration in Japan’s Iga
Masahiro Shimada and Katsunori Kano were told on 20 October 2026 that their marriage would not be registered in Iga, a city in Japan’s Mie Prefecture. The couple described the decision in a statement dated 21 October, which Marriage For All Japan published on 22 October.
They submitted their marriage notification on 4 August. Iga Mayor Toshinao Inamori personally received the document and expressed his wish to register their union. The city nevertheless deferred its decision while examining the legal possibilities. Receiving the paperwork did not itself constitute a marriage.
According to the city’s explanation dated 21 October, Iga submitted an inquiry to the Tsu District Legal Affairs Bureau, part of the Justice Ministry, on 19 August. In its reply dated 15 September, the bureau said the Civil Code and Family Register Act provisions establish marriage between people of different sexes. It also cited the need for uniform administration of family registers nationwide, without differences between municipalities.
Inamori said the city had to follow that interpretation and refuse registration. He continued, however, to call for legislation recognising same-sex marriage. The refusal did not deny the couple’s relationship or their dignity, he said.
Shimada and Kano thanked the mayor and city staff for trying to find a solution, but expressed anger at the lack of change at the national level. They explained that they wanted to marry and live as a family. They said they had moved to Iga in 2016 after the city introduced its partnership recognition system.
Citing the couple’s public comments, PRIDE JAPAN reported that they received a certificate of non-acceptance and had their submitted marriage notification returned. The men expressed hope that, after a change in the law, they could submit the same document again.
Cover photograph: 伊賀上野ニンニン / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Iga City Hall and the Mie prefectural government’s Iga office, 18 November 2018. Resized and converted to WebP without cropping.
