Asia | Some cause for pride

Support for gay rights in Japan is gaining momentum

But conservative politicians in the ruling party are blocking progress

A modest cheer
|SAPPORO and TOKYO

WHEN AIKO (not her real name) was at school nearly 20 years ago, her parents found a love letter another girl had written to her. “They cried a great deal,” she recalls. They told Aiko it was a phase and forbade her from going out at night. When she moved away to college, they told her not to come home if she was going to talk about her feelings. She feared a lonely life.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “A matter of some pride”

The triumph of big government

From the November 20th 2021 edition

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