On November 28, 2025, the Tokyo High Court issued a judgment ruling that the provisions of the Civil Code and other laws that do not recognize same-sex marriage do not violate the Constitution of Japan. The court stated that the institutional design itself—which contemplates “a married couple and their children” as a family unit—remains rational, and left it to the National Diet, after exhausting deliberation on the issues, to select and determine the legal framework for same-sex couples in its judgment. LLAN members prepared the English summary and full translation of this decision. (Decision and summary in Japanese)
LLAN members from Ashurst, Clifford Chance, Morgan Stanley, Mori Hamada, Nagashima, Simpson Thacher, White & Case, and ZeLo, and Fujita Naosuke contributed to this English translation project. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all the participants.
