Caption: 1 in 13 identify as LGBT (“sexual minorities”). Screencap courtesy NHK [1]
An online survey conducted by international PR and advertising giant Dentsu [2] has found that one in 13 Japanese people (7.7%) between the ages of 20 and 59 [3] identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). The results of the original Japanese-language survey can be requested here [4].
This number is an increase from the results of a 2012 Dentsu survey [5], when 1 in 19 respondents [6] identified as LGBT.
The April 2015 survey results come barely a month after several large cities in Japan recognized same-sex civil unions [7], and as the Japanese Ministry of Education is set to introduce new curriculum promoting diversity [8] in Japanese society.
In another April 2015 news release [9], advertising agency Dentsu has also identified the LGBT community as an increasingly influential demographic of consumers in Japan with an annual spending power of 5.94 trillion yen (approximately US$50 billion).
To determine that 7.7% of Japanese people identify as LGBT, on April 7 and 8, 2015, Dentsu surveyed 70,000 people over the Internet. The results were reported by age:
自分が当事者かもしれないと気付いた時期については、「１３歳から１５歳」が最も多く１８．６％、次いで６歳以下が１７．２％、「１０歳から１２歳」が１６％、４０歳を過ぎてからという人も９．８％いました。一方で、当事者であることを誰にも明らかにしていないと答えた人は５６．８％に上っていました。
When asked at what age they first realized they identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, 18.6% (the most respondents) said between the ages of 13 and 15. After that, those who identified as LGBT by the age of 6 were the next most common group at 17.2%. 16% of respondents said they first identified as LGBT between the ages of 10 and 12. 9.8% of respondents first identified as LGBT after the age of 40. 56.8% of survey respondents did not reveal when they first identified as LGBT.
Around the same time, Fumino Sugiyama [10], a transgender man who was a former fencer on the women's national team, commented on news that Tokyo's Shibuya Ward would begin to issue certificates recognizing same-sex unions. Speaking at an April 23 press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan [11], Sugiyama said:
性的少数者が自分たちの隣にもいることを知ってほしい
I want people to know that there are people who identify as LGBT (“sexual minorities,” 性的少数者) who are our neighbors.
Sugiyama, born as a female, says he has known of his male identity since he was in kindergarten [12] and used to cry as a child because he didn’t want to wear a skirt. Sugiyama has gone on to become a successful entrepreneur, fashion model, entertainer and spokesperson for Japan's LGBT community [13].
Here is the full FCCJ press conference featuring remarks by Sugiyama:
外国人記者クラブでの記者会見模様です。 https://t.co/yaJ6wOwWeN [14]
— 杉山文野 (@fumino810) April 24, 2015 [15]
Press conference at Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan – Fumino Sugiyama.