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Chiba to issue nonbinding certificates recognizing same-sex and common-law couples


Kinyobi No Asa

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The city of Chiba plans to issue certificates recognizing same-sex and common-law couples from April next year. | GETTY IMAGES

  Chiba to issue nonbinding certificates recognizing same-sex and common-law couples by Aika Sato

  • Aug 25, 2018
     

The city of Chiba plans to issue nonbinding certificates recognizing same-sex as well as common-law couples starting in April next year, following similar moves by Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward and other municipalities across the nation.

Chiba will be the first municipality to offer partnership certificates beyond those recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples, the city says.

 

“I hope it can take everyone a step forward to question what a family and a partnership is about,†Chiba Mayor Toshihito Kumagai said at a news conference Thursday.

The city had initially planned to issue certificates to LGBT couples only. But it decided to widen the scope when local LGBT groups asked that the policy not be limited to sexual minorities.

To apply, couples must be unmarried, must not be blood relatives, and must be residents of the city or have plans to move there in the near future.

“These are just preliminary requirements, which are subject to changes based on the public comments we will receive next month,†said an official at the city’s Gender Equality Division, who asked not to be named due to department policy.

The city will accept public comments from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1.

Despite the fact that the certificates are not legally binding, the city said it’s willing to ask hospitals and businesses to cooperate, with the details expected later.

That could help couples who aren’t legally married sign surgical consent forms on behalf of partners who are incapacitated and can’t speak for themselves or rent housing limited to those who are married.

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/08/25/national/social-issues/city-chiba-issue-partnership-certificates-sex-common-law-couples/#.W4GHFzl9jIU

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As expected from a highly educated country, and i'm not saying that Japan doesn't have many things to come to terms, but as expected from Shibuya, the Castro from Japan taking the lead in this, and how awesome is that the gay couples thought in extending the law and benefits to straight couples uh ?

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That's nice, but I wonder how widely it'll be recognized since it's not legally binding. Japanese entities can be strict about playing by the book. 

To me when a social movement begins it doesn't go backwards, by now they are asking coorporations to cooperate, but from a testing period to the actual law there won't be much time

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To me when a social movement begins it doesn't go backwards, by now they are asking coorporations to cooperate, but from a testing period to the actual law there won't be much time

 

Japan doesn't even let married couples have different surnames at this point, even though it's a factor in straight couples not wanting to register their marriages and receive the benefits. Japan is modern in many ways, but slow to change in others. 

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at first i read this as "china" and i was really confused.

then i realized it was chiba.

 

YOU GO CHIBA!!

honestly surprised chiba would take the leap before anywhere else in tokyo. hopefully, we'll see continued motion across the country!

 

--that recent scandal with the homophobic lawmaker seemed to really irk a lot of previously uninvolved Japanese people, so people are more inclined now to pay attention.

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