On March 17, 2021, the Sapporo District Court rendered a decision holding that the failure to recognize marriage equality violates Article 14 of the Japanese constitution. See Washington Post, NY Times. It is the first time a court in Japan ruled directly on the constitutionality of marriage equality in Japan. Plaintiffs across Japan are seeking marriage equality and litigation was pending in five district courts across Japan (Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka). Sapporo District Court was the first court to render the decision.
The copy of the judgement (Japanese) is available here . English translation of the judgement prepared by LLAN is available here.
For those who prefer to read a shorter document, the court has prepared a summary of the full judgement. English translation of this summary is available here.
