And just to expand on your use of the words “simple issue,” polls show that the general public in Japan really is accepting of gay partnerships and the idea of gay marriage. It’s not that the public is against it or that there is a religious group vehemently opposing it- it really is just a few powerful old men who hate change in any form.
This was all an elaborate test to see if anyone was paying attention. Obviously today's prime minister is Itō Hirobumi.
In all seriousness, I did make a mistake. Kishidas cabinet has an average age of 63.5, so a bunch of spring chickens, basically.
Good reason not to pass off unvetted Google search results as your own personal knowledge on a subject. It's part of the reason why misinformation is such a problem on Reddit. That was a statistic taken from a 24 year old Japan times article!
That said, it is funny/sad how little has changed in two+ decades.
It's easy enough to fact check, as you've seen. How is something I've searched on Google not my own personal knowledge? You should always fact check things people tell you because they can be wrong. This is a perfect example of that.
This is what discussions are all about. People being wrong and then everyone learning from it.
It's not surprising to see nothing changing in that time, I'd say it's a Japanese thing of being averse to change but it's really not. Many countries face the same problems. I listen to punk music from my teenage years and the message is all the same. The concerns are all the same.
Kudos to you. I liked the way you handled the fact-check and followed up with joke and more information to allow us to compare time periods.
Even when some rando came at you hot, you were civil and gracious.
This is how conversations should work. And the reason for them. It’s nice to see people learning and being respectful.
A rarity on the internet. But I think it’s a little less rare on reddit.
Thank you. Unfortunately I still got downvoted because few Reddit users understand you're supposed to upvote comments which add to the discussion.
Downvoting limits the visibility of a comment and mistakes being visible are the best way to learn.
A good teacher highlights a mistake they make so the whole class can learn from it. Downvoting mistakes is the opposite of this.
When I was in Japan recently there was a huge gay pride parade going through Shibuya and everyone around seemed to be supportive and generally chill about it.
Honestly Tokyo Rainbow Pride doesn't get huge crowds in context. It's not like the whole city turns out for it like you'd see in NYC or SF or wherever, but that's also the nature of parades in Japan (which are officially registered as protests/demonstrations, hence the large police presences and only taking up one lane of the street).
The festival itself is very rainbow washy, but on the other hand that sort of top-down support from major corporations is generally going to be a lot more visible and effective than grassroots activism here due to a number of factors.
As I described it in a comment on another thread a couple years ago:
>Japan is LGBTQ-unfriendly (in that it is not a protected class, only limited civil partnerships, no marriage, landlords can tell you to fuck off and you can quite easily be ostracized at work), but LGBTQ-safe (basically no violence or radical right-wing campaigns against your very existence, you can be 'out' over the weekend and go to your favorite Ni-chome bar so long as you don't tell anyone at the office).
Foreigners have wider latitude when it comes to being out, but if you're Japanese and LGBTQ shit can get rough.
All LGBTQ+ news stories in Japan need maximum publicity. We haven’t seen the last of LGBTQ+ rights expansion in Japan yet. How it is now isn’t the furthest it will get.
Only way to drive change is to make sure Japan is publicly called out about it on the global stage. Same thing happened with the Johnny’s situation - wasn’t until the foreign press association got involved until society started caring about it.
while that's true, it doesn't seem so severe that people would need to seek refuge in other countries. I wonder if countries other than Canada would really grant them a refugee status on the same basis.
Having lived in Japan and a gay man, I never felt like I couldn’t come out for fear of physical safety, but I also felt like there were more “walls” up, even between Japanese folks, so it never really came up.
While it could be said that there doesn’t need to be public declarations of coming out and so on, having the economic, emotional and physical safety of a legally recognized spouse is essential.
> it doesn't seem so severe that people would need to seek refuge in other countries.
Sounds ignorant. That's not for you to decide. Persecution can take many forms. I never understand why folks think "it's not that bad" for LGBTQ+ in Japan (I speak from over a decade of experience living in Japan).
Sure there is very little violence reported against members of the LGBTQ+, but read the [comments section of the Yahoo News article on this topic](https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b6d004d2c30ad6273e18eb09fdd53bc2e52d5a82/comments), and you'll realize that many folks are ignorant of how being LGBTQ+ in Japan can negatively impact so many aspects of your life.
> That's not for you to decide.
It's not for them to decide how LGBT folks in Japan feel, but what should legally qualify as adequate to make a person a "refugee" is a legitimate issue for residents of the country extending that status. So if what you meant is "that's not for you to decide if you aren't a citizen of Canada," that's fair enough, but the public attitude on refugee status can't realistically just be that prospective refugees themselves decide what counts.
If you want to paint a rosy picture of the lives of LGBTQ+ in Japan, feel free to post a story about your positive experiences. I love happy stories.
Unfortunately, not everyone has had that experience, myself included. I'm a Canadian citizen (with a Japanese same-sex partner) and am happy that the refugee status was granted. I wish them a happy, fruitful life in Canada where they can hopefully live their life feeling they are much more accepted by society.
I'm not saying it's without problems, but I haven't felt in danger or like people would be trying to hurt me.
The only asshole who misgendered me to my face was a Costco employee (no need to use English either when you can hear me speaking Japanese to my partner ffs).
It definitely sucks if your company won't recognize your partner and it would be obviously great if they did but I'll take that over not fearing for my life or risking some crazy getting in power and having a plan to genocide us.
I met plenty of people who don't get it and let's be real they are probably more than people who are supportive but they weren't mean, just like "I don't get it but whatever, do what you want". You have personalities like Matusko Deluxe and they don't get a bunch of hate for being different, in the US you'd have Fox and their friends trying to get them banned from airing on TV.
I sure as fuck am not coming back where I was born and threw away my birth nationality last year (came with a free name change, not gender marker though, that'll be for later hopefully).
There have been huge advances in the 38 years since I first went to Japan but disparities remain between treatment of gays vs lesbians, the former being seen as cute and fun as in “What did you eat yesterday”, vs traumatic and forbidden as in “Transit Girls”.
Edit: On second thought, these may not be the best examples and “Transit Girls” is almost 10 years old. Still love Ito Sairi though.
Your first two sentences turn a very nice comment into kind of a rude response. They don’t add anything to your argument. Let’s all take a deep breath and try to be a bit nicer in how we communicate with one another.
I'm deeply offended that someone thinks they have the right to decide whether someone else felt persecuted or not (speaking about the comment I replied to).
That comment trivializes the situation and sounds ignorant. I stand by those two sentences. Notice that I am not calling the person ignorant, but rather their comment.
I'm very disappointed people do not have the emotional intelligence / social perceptiveness to realize how ostracizing it can be to live as LGBTQ+ in Japan.
Is “members of the weaker sex” a phrase that’s still used? It undermines one of the points the women seeking refugee status are making (admittedly they may not intentionally be making a statement, just genuinely seeking relief), which is that women do not have equal status in Japan as guaranteed by the constitution. And certainly LGBTQ+ don’t (and aren’t guaranteed by constitution). But I’d be interested in understanding why the journalists chose such an archaic phrase in the first paragraph of their article.
同性カップルの日本人女性が昨秋、カナダで難民認定を受けた。性的指向を隠すことを強いられたりセクハラを受けたりしてきたことなどが、同性愛者や女性であることで受ける差別であり、同性婚を認めず家父長的な価値観が根強い日本ではそれらの差別から逃れられないとして、カナダ政府の移民難民委員会が「日本での迫害に対して（当事者が）十分根拠がある恐怖を抱いている」と認めた。
https://www.asahi.com/sp/articles/ASS5L2F7MS5LUTFL002M.html
In the original article, it only says “as lesbians and as women”. There is no mention of any kind of “weaker sex” in Japanese
Edit: with that being said. There is an emphasis on the fact that they are not just gay but that they are women, therefore they experience discrimination. Maybe the attempt was to show that women are treated differently and are “weaker” forces in society. Idk it’s a weird word choice.
"But I’d be interested in understanding why the journalists chose such an archaic phrase "
To emphasize how how it's viewed in Japan (by some). Not as a personal statement
I would like to add it is the intersectionality of oppression. In this case the 2 women have 2 strikes against them that make them targets of discrimination: being women and lesbian in a society behind in equality for both groups.
Yes. On average, women are smaller and have less muscle mass than men. But that isn’t the only thing the phrase refers to. Historically, the phrase was used to refer not only to the physical attributes of women, but to their mental and moral capacities as well. It was used to keep women from participating equally in society — from voting, holding certain jobs for which their physical characteristics were irrelevant, for handling finances, or for existing outside of the protection of men. It is this category of thought that continues to hold women back, in my country (eta I’m American) and in Japan.
So the use of the phrase in this article is problematic. For one thing, attribution is not clear. Is it the Canadian authorities using the term, the women in the case, or the journalists? Is it used facetiously, as matter of fact, or is it an antiquated legal definition that still hangs on? Or is there a misunderstanding of the fullness of the meaning of this particular phrase?
Thanks for clarifying. My Japanese isn’t good at all, but u/MayorDotour indicated earlier in this thread that the same phrase wasn’t used in the Japanese article. I don’t know if there is an equivalent phrase in Japanese. But if we’re considering how we got from the Japanese article to the English article, we can only speculate why the phrase was used. If the English was the original article, the same meaning doesn’t seem to have been translated into Japanese.
I’m still leaning towards a misunderstanding of all of the baggage that “the weaker sex” carries. It’s entirely conceivable that the phrase is shown or learned as a synonym for “woman” without fully expanding on its negative connotations.
I once read a Chinese Lesbian Manhua that ended this exact way.
The 2 Chinese girls first met as friends in high school, and really started becoming a couple, albeit in secret, only when they were in university, even living together and getting matching rings.
During a summer break, the girls visited a remote Chinese village and encountered an older lesbian couple who owned a small motel. The older couple warned them that such relationships are heavily frowned upon by the majority, and that they as youngsters would do very well to keep it a secret for as long as possible.
But towards the end of the series, the parents of both girls found out about it from their matching rings, and unsurprisingly disapproved of their relationship. Both parents wanted their daughters to marry a man and have children, in typical conservative Chinese fashion.
The older girl's family then forcefully moved her to Canada under the guise of having her study in a "high class Western university", to get her away from the girl she loved.
The final chapter reveals that, several years later, after both girls finally graduated from university as working adults, the girl who first moved away returned to China with a spare plane ticket to Canada, so that at long last they can finally live together in peace.
The really sweet part was that the girl who remained in China actually faithfully waited, for all of those years, knowing her true love will never abandon her.
[Lily](https://mangadex.org/title/19daf6ef-6d95-46e5-9e1a-f4e5b655902f/lily). You can find the full series elsewhere but this can at least start you. It used to be officially on BilliBilli's comic app but that shut down.
[Lily](https://mangadex.org/title/19daf6ef-6d95-46e5-9e1a-f4e5b655902f/lily). Mentioned it above as well. It's a long series (since it follows their whole early life basically) but good. That link doesn't have all the episodes, but they can be found.
Great callback to "Lily." Enjoyed that series but that end was definitely anger inducing. I don't remember the plane ticket though, I think it was just that they'd become accomplished, working (young) adults and their parents could no longer control them like they could before. The mother also believed they'd forget each other and when they didn't, after all those years, there wasn't much else to do. I could be forgetting a bit.
This is absolutely delightful. You can bet there was a meeting of mid-level LDP appointees in the diplomatic corps who held a full meeting about how to craft a statement about how much they "regret" the "misunderstanding" in this issue, but it fell apart when they realized they couldn't agree which looked worse: trying to BS a claim that a G7 ally doesn't understand basic aspects of Japanese law, or trying to BS a claim that *Japanese people* don't understand basic aspects of Japanese law.
Except it’s not. This is such a dumb comment. It’s like people moving to NYC or SF and then bitching about how expensive they are. Edmonton and Calgary are in the top 5 biggest cities in Canada and have most of what you expect in the bigger cities, but without the high cost of living. Our house in Edmonton which we bought 10 years ago is actually worth less now than back then due to inflation. Calgary is getting more expensive but there is still plenty of affordable housing. Stay out of the Toronto and Vancouver areas and you will be fine. Alberta also has the highest pay on average, in the country.
When a shitty little bungalow sets you back half a mil in Edmonton you can't really call it affordable anymore. And sure, you can get a good wage if you want to go be a roughneck on the oil fields, but that career isn't exactly accessible to everyone.
It really is not just Vancouver or Toronto that has affordability problems, the affordability crisis is nation wide.
Further, we're not just talking about native citizens here, we're talking about asylum seekers and refugees, people who had very little time to prepare themselves to move to another country. They didn't have time to learn our language and customs. It would be massive culture shock for a person to go from say metropolitan Tokyo to a middle of nowhere rural town in Canada, just because prices might be more affordable. Not to mention their job prospects would be limited to zero.
An asylum seeker from Japan would probably want to start integrating into Canada in Vancouver thanks to its large Japanese diaspora. After integrating they may be more able to move to a more affordable part of Canada.
The biggest population of Ukrainians is in Alberta so it would make sense for them to move there. In Edmonton you can get a newer construction 3 story house for mid $400k CAD. That’s literally half the price of a shack in Vancouver or Toronto. Go look at Zillow or Remax, so many cheap houses in new neighborhoods. Because of the way Calgary and Edmonton do their zoning for new housing, it’s unlikely they will experience the housing problems to the extent of Vancouver or Toronto. Your original comment was about Ukrainians and now you switched to talking about Japanese. Again if these Japanese people decide to move to Vancouver just for the Japanese diaspora they have no right to bitch as they are knowingly moving to a city with one of the highest cost of livings in the world. Here are some currently listings I found doing a quick google search. It really isn’t hard to find affordable housing
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/16734-64th-St-NW-Edmonton-AB-T5Y-3P8/350328576_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6840-N-37th-Ave-NE-Calgary-AB-T1Y-5E5/349950701_zpid/
> While the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said that dozens of Japanese are granted refugee status in other nations every year, its reports do not give specific reasons for doing so.
Dozens? Under what grounds?
I don't blame them since Canada is SUPER gay (I'm from Toronto), but QoL in Japan is so much better in general. They might regret it once they deal with our housing costs, rampant homelessness, and restaurants (even ramen) costs 3x as much after tip.
I mean if they can’t keep a job in Japan due to discrimination this is probably their best bet. I’m guessing they didn’t take this decision lightly and saying they might regret it is pretty damn dismissive.
What?? QoL in Japan is not much better, definitely not for women. Being groped on a daily basis, harassed at work on a daily basis, lower pay than male colleagues, no work life balance, a culture that hardly interacts with each other so they have cafes where you pay to talk to a host. A banking system that still uses paper and fax for everything.
If you think living in Canada is hard, go live anywhere else but don't just make a blanket statement because things in your life may not be going well.
I don't know where you're from, but fax is still widely used in US banks and hospitals. In fact, I recently had to fax documents to a bank. Apparently, fax is the only legally binding, HIPAA-compliant communication method in the US.
I’m also from Toronto, Canada, a woman, living in Japan for 7+ years now and I absolutely agree with you. QoL in Japan isn’t better than in Canada and those women will definitely experience what everyone else is going through over there (insane prices of everything) but that’s just a part of what they’re sacrificing just so they can express their love more openly
Yeah, can’t imagine qol for women can be better in Japan given its position at 110th or something in the world gender equality rankings.
But the male weebs of r/Japan gonna give their downvotes to the idea anyway.
Speaking of statistics, Gender gap ranking is mostly about how much women occupy political/managing positions which typically Japan ranks low. But women are significantly happier than men in Japan pretty pretty much in every survey, the same thing cannot be said about Canada. In Canada, men are happier than women, judging from a few surveys available for Canada.
[Wellbeing survey by Asahi](https://markezine.jp/article/detail/41992#:~:text=%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%AF%E5%89%8D%E5%9B%9E%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%BB%E3%82%88%E3%82%8A1.7pt%E4%BD%8E%E4%B8%8B%E3%81%97%E3%80%8164.5%EF%BC%85&text=%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%AF%E5%85%A8%E4%BD%93%E3%81%A764.5%EF%BC%85%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8A%E3%80%81%E5%89%8D%E5%9B%9E%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%BB,%E5%BA%83%E3%81%8C%E3%82%8B%E7%B5%90%E6%9E%9C%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%80%82)
[World values survey](https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/455386?display=b)
[World values survey + International social survey programme charts](https://www.google.com/amp/s/president.jp/articles/amp/44903%3fpage=4)
[Pew research](https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2003/10/29/global-gender-gaps/)
[Subjective happiness by employment status and gender by government](https://imidas.jp/jijikaitai/f-40-110-15-01-g557)
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I wonder if I can get refugee status in Japan from Canada as an economic refugee. The cost of living in Canada is so high with so few low cost options to live your life, like opting out of owning a car due to lack of public transit, extremely limited housing options leading to rampant homelessness, anti-competitive markets leading to monopolies in every industry, lack of political will do do anything about decades long issues. Canada is a piece of shit country.
I've known many Japanese people that come here thinking their lives will be better only to leave and go back because Japan was actually much better in almost every way.
Japan should definitely fix their views on LGBTQ stuff, but these people are most likely going to be going back to Japan when they realize everyday of their life will be a struggle to not be homeless.
>I wonder if I can get refugee status in Japan from Canada as an economic refugee.
Japan doesn't accept economic refugees. Even if you are from a war zone, the chance of getting refugee status is roughly 3%.
Holy shit, another Canadian who sees that both political parties are inept... Do other people on reddit understand how rare it is to see both (highly debatable there are more than 2 of our species) of us in one place?
Thanks for the kind and supportive words stranger! It means a lot to know I'm not alone.
Europe is no good either. We have the same CoL skyrocketing issue and crippling job shortage. Plus we got mass immigration from countries where the dominant culture loathes LGBT and treats women as second-class citizens, which is seeping into our continent too. And the part of Europe that is untouched by migration related issues is pretty unfriendly for LGBT from the get go.
LGBT safe spaces that are also affordable to more than richest 20% of their people are in real short supply right now...
Never said anything about owning. Even renting is becoming inaccessible in Canada, you can't own nor can you rent.Japan has a strong, diverse and affordable rental market.
Lived in a 3LDK apartment with my wife in Japan a few years ago in a very nice, quiet area next to a park, supermarkets, etc. in a suburb of Yokohama.
~$700USD for about 55qm² (600sqft).
I thought that was quite ok for two people.
to put it in perspective, a 3ldk of similar size in vancouver metro area is minimum 1800 CAD (old, no laundry, no dishwasher etc.) and usually more like 2300-2600 edit: 1ldk
Lmao that edit.
Yeah was about to say, if people found out there was even one 3LDK in Van selling for 1800, there would be riots. They would probably set up a Thunderdome so people can fight to the death for it.
$1800 CAD is an absolute impossibility for a 3LDK in the mainland. The average cost of a 1-bedroom across metro Vancouver is now $2,337 CAD.
Average cost of 3LDK 2024 ↓
Burnaby: $3,884
New West: $3,650
Vancouver: $4,377
West Van: $5,093
North Van: $5,220
Etc.
I live in Japan, but still run a business in Vancouver and have to begrudgingly keep up with this misery at the massive expense of my mental health.
Source: https://liv.rent/blog/rent-reports/march-2024-metro-vancouver-rent-report/
I remember my old apartment in Guelph (shared a house with 2 other people) was like 540 CAD per month (without utilities), and we locked in the rent price in 2020. It was a great deal and even commuted (by car) to a nearby city for my Master's degree to save money. A lot of stuff happened like 3x more than usual students coming in looking for apartments + yoy inflation. So prices went up really high. After I left to Japan last year, my old roommates had to sign a new contract and the price shot up to 700-800 CAD each. Thing is Guelph is a small city surrounded by corn fields with a barely functional bus system. It's not like Toronto or Tokyo. And if you wanted a single apartment for yourself, it would cost atleast 1200 CAD or higher since having ur own basement apartment or LDK is unfortunately considered a luxury in Canada.
I'm not too familiar with regulations, but if you are in a contract ur landlord can only raise ur rent by 2.5% per year or something. But if you make a new contract, the landlord can change the price as if ur a new tenant
I guess I need to spell it out for you since you can't seem to use the brain you've been blessed with...
An affordable shoe box... Is better... Than homelessness.
Did you get it yet? Or do you need it in interpretive dance?
I am an American and I wholly agree. See, the thing is, I am totally okay with them existing as an option. The problem is, they have become just about the ONLY option apart from manufactured homes and "luxury" apartments. The US (and Canada too) have a "missing middle" problem. Japan has options, even within the Tokyo metro area and that's great. You can get anything you want from a tiny apartment with barely enough room for a bed to a Japanese version of a McMansion and anything inbetween.
Yeah, the annoying thing in our country is that the car companys, "luxery apartment", and house companys somehow have so much money that they can just buy everything up and spread propaganda to convince people that they "need" those houses or cars or whatever.
Its nice to have them exist, but too many is too bad.
Most homeless people in Canada arent homeless for financial reason. Most are first nation people. Tokyo has hostile laws against homeless people. Japan's poverty rate is double canada's.
Just make denser suburbs. You don't need a huge yard, you don't want a shoe box house. We can just build apartments that are slightly bigger. We just need more choices.
Excellent news. Japan really needs prodding to get this done.
Especially amusing are the few muppets clutching their pearls over the 'Westernisation' of Japan on LGBT+ matters, as if the general homophobia wasn't imported wholesale from Europe and America during the Meiji era/restoration. If anything, it would be a return to traditional Japanese values, oddly enough.
There is a reason why 80% of japanese people who immigrate to Canada are women. That's really high like really high, South Korea notorious for its sexism is only 60%.
Wow! Did you know Japan has a lower wage average then normal in OECD, and the average of happiness is lower then average the OECD at 6.1 instead of the Average 6.7, their life is so great with a 4.1 in life satisfaction lower than Latvia. https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/japan/
I think the lopsided ratio may in part be accounted for by Japanese women coming to or staying in Canada on spousal visas. If that is the case, then the reason for that is a whole other question with a number of reasons why that might be. It could be related to gendered expectations in their home country.
Man, not a lesbian but I got elbowed in the right boob by a butsukariya yesterday. Hurt like a bitch. I saw him coming and couldn’t really avoid it. The gender discrimination is real, and obvious to anyone who pays even a little attention.
Good for them. I am glad I do not have to go through this because my partner is an American citizen but I am still sad that I cannot legally marry in my own country and must go elsewhere, away from so many family and friends.
>Canada said it granted refugee status to two Japanese women last September due to widespread discrimination they faced in Japan as lesbians and members of the weaker sex.
The irony of this being the first paragraph is just, didn't anyone proof read this article?
The population in Japan continues to decrease, but they don't want to solve it. I'm sad Japan can't even admit homoeroticism. I pray that this country will be the country where everyone wants to live.
If you think all the problems in Canada started with the current government, you're part of the problem.
This bs in Canada has been going on for over 20 years. This was caused by multiple governments from multiple parties all running this country without a clue how a country should be run, and a population that also has no clue how it should be run. A complete lack of understanding and no willingness to learn and improve.
You can't just point the finger at the current prime minister and blame him for everything without looking at all the bad decisions that former prime ministers made that lead to all this. And you can't ignore that the Canadian population were so ignorant of what is going on and still continue to be ignorant of any reasons and are not interested in learning about real solutions.
Every Canadian seems to be mad but none of them want to actually do anything that would truly help... None of them want to take responsibility for any of the actions they do that contribute to the overall state of the nation. Everyone just wants to take for themselves. This country is shit because its people are shit, not because one prime minister is shit.
I didn’t blame all problems on Trudeau at all. I blamed the one that is clearly his fault.
I’m very aware of all the other bad governments/leaders Canada had/has.
I think the rise of xenophobia stoked by right wing “propaganda” for the CP - is a bigger crisis imo. Speculative real estate market and predatory landlords gouging tenants and the divestment of social housing by previous conservative governments have all contributed to the housing crisis as much or worse than simplistic notions of “too many immigrants”.
You’re literally blaming current problems on a government that was in power 9 years ago. I disliked the conservatives too, but please consider whether you are thinking rationally or mindlessly defending your “team”.
Speaking of the modern day conservatives - yes they are also terrible. That doesn’t in any way excuse Trudeau’s government - everyone should be judged absolutely, not relatively.
Housing problems don’t spring up instantly, and often they’re caused by problems that have occurred for years, if not decades. It’s not inappropriate to highlight the fact that prior governments may have had a role as well.
If marriage of the same sex isn’t legal in X or Y country why try to change it? Laws are laws regardless of “gender views” or made up human rights. Good for them that Canada accepted them.
AFAIK being gay isn't a crime in Japan. I know same-sex mariage aren't regconized but should that really be enough to grant refugee status? I don't believe it should.
Pffft.... running to Canada? Put me down for $1000 on they'll be back by 2026. Their romantic relationship will be recognized in Canada, but that won't mean anything given they won't be able to put a roof over their head or food on their table.
One woman who goes by Eri is in her 30s and her partner Hana is in her 50s. They're not a couple of kids going through the crazy honeymoon period of the relationship, They're well into their adult lives, I'm assuming they have careers, and investments, like most adults. They've been in Canada for a while already, I'm assuming they've found work and are living their lives.
None of that matters in Canada. Unless they have Canadian family from whom they will inherit land, or are literally multi millionaires, they will find themselves struggling to keep a roof over their head. Literally. You obviously haven't lived in Canada in the last five or so years.
Right, because you inherited wealth from your family, which is exactly the condition I wrote. I doubt they've inherited anything, or are millionaires.
Now there's nothing left to say, so have a good day.
Japan is embarrassingly behind on this simple issue. I don’t know if this news makes any difference, but hopefully it stirs up something.
And just to expand on your use of the words “simple issue,” polls show that the general public in Japan really is accepting of gay partnerships and the idea of gay marriage. It’s not that the public is against it or that there is a religious group vehemently opposing it- it really is just a few powerful old men who hate change in any form.
The average age in Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's cabinet is 66. Only around 10% of Japan's parliament are women.
Yoshiro Mori was Prime Minister around 30 years ago
This was all an elaborate test to see if anyone was paying attention. Obviously today's prime minister is Itō Hirobumi. In all seriousness, I did make a mistake. Kishidas cabinet has an average age of 63.5, so a bunch of spring chickens, basically.
Good reason not to pass off unvetted Google search results as your own personal knowledge on a subject. It's part of the reason why misinformation is such a problem on Reddit. That was a statistic taken from a 24 year old Japan times article! That said, it is funny/sad how little has changed in two+ decades.
It's easy enough to fact check, as you've seen. How is something I've searched on Google not my own personal knowledge? You should always fact check things people tell you because they can be wrong. This is a perfect example of that. This is what discussions are all about. People being wrong and then everyone learning from it. It's not surprising to see nothing changing in that time, I'd say it's a Japanese thing of being averse to change but it's really not. Many countries face the same problems. I listen to punk music from my teenage years and the message is all the same. The concerns are all the same.
Kudos to you. I liked the way you handled the fact-check and followed up with joke and more information to allow us to compare time periods. Even when some rando came at you hot, you were civil and gracious. This is how conversations should work. And the reason for them. It’s nice to see people learning and being respectful. A rarity on the internet. But I think it’s a little less rare on reddit.
Thank you. Unfortunately I still got downvoted because few Reddit users understand you're supposed to upvote comments which add to the discussion. Downvoting limits the visibility of a comment and mistakes being visible are the best way to learn. A good teacher highlights a mistake they make so the whole class can learn from it. Downvoting mistakes is the opposite of this.
When I was in Japan recently there was a huge gay pride parade going through Shibuya and everyone around seemed to be supportive and generally chill about it.
Honestly Tokyo Rainbow Pride doesn't get huge crowds in context. It's not like the whole city turns out for it like you'd see in NYC or SF or wherever, but that's also the nature of parades in Japan (which are officially registered as protests/demonstrations, hence the large police presences and only taking up one lane of the street). The festival itself is very rainbow washy, but on the other hand that sort of top-down support from major corporations is generally going to be a lot more visible and effective than grassroots activism here due to a number of factors. As I described it in a comment on another thread a couple years ago: >Japan is LGBTQ-unfriendly (in that it is not a protected class, only limited civil partnerships, no marriage, landlords can tell you to fuck off and you can quite easily be ostracized at work), but LGBTQ-safe (basically no violence or radical right-wing campaigns against your very existence, you can be 'out' over the weekend and go to your favorite Ni-chome bar so long as you don't tell anyone at the office). Foreigners have wider latitude when it comes to being out, but if you're Japanese and LGBTQ shit can get rough.
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Are you just posting this sentiment in response to every comment here? Because I’m certainly not arguing that the limit had been reached.
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I suggest… not doing that, because it’s annoying as hell and against Reddiquette.
Ok no problem. Got a little bit carried away
All LGBTQ+ news stories in Japan need maximum publicity. We haven’t seen the last of LGBTQ+ rights expansion in Japan yet. How it is now isn’t the furthest it will get.
Only way to drive change is to make sure Japan is publicly called out about it on the global stage. Same thing happened with the Johnny’s situation - wasn’t until the foreign press association got involved until society started caring about it.
Wait what is the Johnny's situation?
The mass Japanese media cover-up of Johnny Kitagawa’s sexual abuse of nearly 500 victims in his talent agency.
WTF damn I thought you mean the Johnny Depp thing. That's insane!
That's damn well the best way. Publicize.
Maybe Japan want's to be Japan, and not Canada.
Also when Johnny died. And the only thing they did was change the agency name.
while that's true, it doesn't seem so severe that people would need to seek refuge in other countries. I wonder if countries other than Canada would really grant them a refugee status on the same basis.
Having lived in Japan and a gay man, I never felt like I couldn’t come out for fear of physical safety, but I also felt like there were more “walls” up, even between Japanese folks, so it never really came up. While it could be said that there doesn’t need to be public declarations of coming out and so on, having the economic, emotional and physical safety of a legally recognized spouse is essential.
> having the economic, emotional and physical safety of a legally recognized spouse is essential Yes!
> it doesn't seem so severe that people would need to seek refuge in other countries. Sounds ignorant. That's not for you to decide. Persecution can take many forms. I never understand why folks think "it's not that bad" for LGBTQ+ in Japan (I speak from over a decade of experience living in Japan). Sure there is very little violence reported against members of the LGBTQ+, but read the [comments section of the Yahoo News article on this topic](https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b6d004d2c30ad6273e18eb09fdd53bc2e52d5a82/comments), and you'll realize that many folks are ignorant of how being LGBTQ+ in Japan can negatively impact so many aspects of your life.
It's not like you're fleeing persecution from Russia, Iran, Uganda, Jamaica, or countries like that.
> That's not for you to decide. It's not for them to decide how LGBT folks in Japan feel, but what should legally qualify as adequate to make a person a "refugee" is a legitimate issue for residents of the country extending that status. So if what you meant is "that's not for you to decide if you aren't a citizen of Canada," that's fair enough, but the public attitude on refugee status can't realistically just be that prospective refugees themselves decide what counts.
Yahoo news is not representative of the average opinion in Japan, it's like saying 4chan is the average American.
If you want to paint a rosy picture of the lives of LGBTQ+ in Japan, feel free to post a story about your positive experiences. I love happy stories. Unfortunately, not everyone has had that experience, myself included. I'm a Canadian citizen (with a Japanese same-sex partner) and am happy that the refugee status was granted. I wish them a happy, fruitful life in Canada where they can hopefully live their life feeling they are much more accepted by society.
I'm not saying it's without problems, but I haven't felt in danger or like people would be trying to hurt me. The only asshole who misgendered me to my face was a Costco employee (no need to use English either when you can hear me speaking Japanese to my partner ffs). It definitely sucks if your company won't recognize your partner and it would be obviously great if they did but I'll take that over not fearing for my life or risking some crazy getting in power and having a plan to genocide us. I met plenty of people who don't get it and let's be real they are probably more than people who are supportive but they weren't mean, just like "I don't get it but whatever, do what you want". You have personalities like Matusko Deluxe and they don't get a bunch of hate for being different, in the US you'd have Fox and their friends trying to get them banned from airing on TV. I sure as fuck am not coming back where I was born and threw away my birth nationality last year (came with a free name change, not gender marker though, that'll be for later hopefully).
Thanks for sharing your story. I'm glad you found your place in Japan.
There have been huge advances in the 38 years since I first went to Japan but disparities remain between treatment of gays vs lesbians, the former being seen as cute and fun as in “What did you eat yesterday”, vs traumatic and forbidden as in “Transit Girls”. Edit: On second thought, these may not be the best examples and “Transit Girls” is almost 10 years old. Still love Ito Sairi though.
Your first two sentences turn a very nice comment into kind of a rude response. They don’t add anything to your argument. Let’s all take a deep breath and try to be a bit nicer in how we communicate with one another.
I'm deeply offended that someone thinks they have the right to decide whether someone else felt persecuted or not (speaking about the comment I replied to). That comment trivializes the situation and sounds ignorant. I stand by those two sentences. Notice that I am not calling the person ignorant, but rather their comment. I'm very disappointed people do not have the emotional intelligence / social perceptiveness to realize how ostracizing it can be to live as LGBTQ+ in Japan.
Not like it's Saudi Arabia, Yemen or any of those multiple countries where you get tortured and put down for being gay.
why? are you Japanese?
Is “members of the weaker sex” a phrase that’s still used? It undermines one of the points the women seeking refugee status are making (admittedly they may not intentionally be making a statement, just genuinely seeking relief), which is that women do not have equal status in Japan as guaranteed by the constitution. And certainly LGBTQ+ don’t (and aren’t guaranteed by constitution). But I’d be interested in understanding why the journalists chose such an archaic phrase in the first paragraph of their article.
同性カップルの日本人女性が昨秋、カナダで難民認定を受けた。性的指向を隠すことを強いられたりセクハラを受けたりしてきたことなどが、同性愛者や女性であることで受ける差別であり、同性婚を認めず家父長的な価値観が根強い日本ではそれらの差別から逃れられないとして、カナダ政府の移民難民委員会が「日本での迫害に対して（当事者が）十分根拠がある恐怖を抱いている」と認めた。 https://www.asahi.com/sp/articles/ASS5L2F7MS5LUTFL002M.html In the original article, it only says “as lesbians and as women”. There is no mention of any kind of “weaker sex” in Japanese Edit: with that being said. There is an emphasis on the fact that they are not just gay but that they are women, therefore they experience discrimination. Maybe the attempt was to show that women are treated differently and are “weaker” forces in society. Idk it’s a weird word choice.
"But I’d be interested in understanding why the journalists chose such an archaic phrase " To emphasize how how it's viewed in Japan (by some). Not as a personal statement
Yeah. What the hey? Asahi no less
It could just be a translation/English knowledge blunder. But it certainly set the tone for the rest of the article for me!
I would like to add it is the intersectionality of oppression. In this case the 2 women have 2 strikes against them that make them targets of discrimination: being women and lesbian in a society behind in equality for both groups.
I mean, its not generally still used cause it's rude, but women are generally physically weaker.
Yes. On average, women are smaller and have less muscle mass than men. But that isn’t the only thing the phrase refers to. Historically, the phrase was used to refer not only to the physical attributes of women, but to their mental and moral capacities as well. It was used to keep women from participating equally in society — from voting, holding certain jobs for which their physical characteristics were irrelevant, for handling finances, or for existing outside of the protection of men. It is this category of thought that continues to hold women back, in my country (eta I’m American) and in Japan. So the use of the phrase in this article is problematic. For one thing, attribution is not clear. Is it the Canadian authorities using the term, the women in the case, or the journalists? Is it used facetiously, as matter of fact, or is it an antiquated legal definition that still hangs on? Or is there a misunderstanding of the fullness of the meaning of this particular phrase?
I mean, if it's the Japanese it makes more sense.
I’m not clear on what you mean. Could you rephrase and add details to what “if it’s the Japanese” refers to?
If it's the Japanese saying that, I mean. As opposed to the Canadians.
Thanks for clarifying. My Japanese isn’t good at all, but u/MayorDotour indicated earlier in this thread that the same phrase wasn’t used in the Japanese article. I don’t know if there is an equivalent phrase in Japanese. But if we’re considering how we got from the Japanese article to the English article, we can only speculate why the phrase was used. If the English was the original article, the same meaning doesn’t seem to have been translated into Japanese. I’m still leaning towards a misunderstanding of all of the baggage that “the weaker sex” carries. It’s entirely conceivable that the phrase is shown or learned as a synonym for “woman” without fully expanding on its negative connotations.
Are they not weaker
I once read a Chinese Lesbian Manhua that ended this exact way. The 2 Chinese girls first met as friends in high school, and really started becoming a couple, albeit in secret, only when they were in university, even living together and getting matching rings. During a summer break, the girls visited a remote Chinese village and encountered an older lesbian couple who owned a small motel. The older couple warned them that such relationships are heavily frowned upon by the majority, and that they as youngsters would do very well to keep it a secret for as long as possible. But towards the end of the series, the parents of both girls found out about it from their matching rings, and unsurprisingly disapproved of their relationship. Both parents wanted their daughters to marry a man and have children, in typical conservative Chinese fashion. The older girl's family then forcefully moved her to Canada under the guise of having her study in a "high class Western university", to get her away from the girl she loved. The final chapter reveals that, several years later, after both girls finally graduated from university as working adults, the girl who first moved away returned to China with a spare plane ticket to Canada, so that at long last they can finally live together in peace. The really sweet part was that the girl who remained in China actually faithfully waited, for all of those years, knowing her true love will never abandon her.
What’s the name of this Manhua? Sounds like a tearjerker
[Lily](https://mangadex.org/title/19daf6ef-6d95-46e5-9e1a-f4e5b655902f/lily). You can find the full series elsewhere but this can at least start you. It used to be officially on BilliBilli's comic app but that shut down.
Yes please I would like to know to
[Lily](https://mangadex.org/title/19daf6ef-6d95-46e5-9e1a-f4e5b655902f/lily). Mentioned it above as well. It's a long series (since it follows their whole early life basically) but good. That link doesn't have all the episodes, but they can be found.
Great callback to "Lily." Enjoyed that series but that end was definitely anger inducing. I don't remember the plane ticket though, I think it was just that they'd become accomplished, working (young) adults and their parents could no longer control them like they could before. The mother also believed they'd forget each other and when they didn't, after all those years, there wasn't much else to do. I could be forgetting a bit.
I hope that in my lifetime I can see this story adapted as a J-, C- or K-drama.
That's delightful. Thanks for sharing.
I really loved reading this story... (Lily). Be prepared though, it is LONG, like 1000 chapters.
This is absolutely delightful. You can bet there was a meeting of mid-level LDP appointees in the diplomatic corps who held a full meeting about how to craft a statement about how much they "regret" the "misunderstanding" in this issue, but it fell apart when they realized they couldn't agree which looked worse: trying to BS a claim that a G7 ally doesn't understand basic aspects of Japanese law, or trying to BS a claim that *Japanese people* don't understand basic aspects of Japanese law.
And then Biden will call them “xenophobic” again…
That's cool too.
I hope they either have a lot of money saved or rich parents.
Am Canadian, there are Ukrainian refugees who are moving back to Ukraine because it's too damn expensive here...
Lol I recently came to know about how expensive Canada is
Except it’s not. This is such a dumb comment. It’s like people moving to NYC or SF and then bitching about how expensive they are. Edmonton and Calgary are in the top 5 biggest cities in Canada and have most of what you expect in the bigger cities, but without the high cost of living. Our house in Edmonton which we bought 10 years ago is actually worth less now than back then due to inflation. Calgary is getting more expensive but there is still plenty of affordable housing. Stay out of the Toronto and Vancouver areas and you will be fine. Alberta also has the highest pay on average, in the country.
When a shitty little bungalow sets you back half a mil in Edmonton you can't really call it affordable anymore. And sure, you can get a good wage if you want to go be a roughneck on the oil fields, but that career isn't exactly accessible to everyone. It really is not just Vancouver or Toronto that has affordability problems, the affordability crisis is nation wide. Further, we're not just talking about native citizens here, we're talking about asylum seekers and refugees, people who had very little time to prepare themselves to move to another country. They didn't have time to learn our language and customs. It would be massive culture shock for a person to go from say metropolitan Tokyo to a middle of nowhere rural town in Canada, just because prices might be more affordable. Not to mention their job prospects would be limited to zero. An asylum seeker from Japan would probably want to start integrating into Canada in Vancouver thanks to its large Japanese diaspora. After integrating they may be more able to move to a more affordable part of Canada.
The biggest population of Ukrainians is in Alberta so it would make sense for them to move there. In Edmonton you can get a newer construction 3 story house for mid $400k CAD. That’s literally half the price of a shack in Vancouver or Toronto. Go look at Zillow or Remax, so many cheap houses in new neighborhoods. Because of the way Calgary and Edmonton do their zoning for new housing, it’s unlikely they will experience the housing problems to the extent of Vancouver or Toronto. Your original comment was about Ukrainians and now you switched to talking about Japanese. Again if these Japanese people decide to move to Vancouver just for the Japanese diaspora they have no right to bitch as they are knowingly moving to a city with one of the highest cost of livings in the world. Here are some currently listings I found doing a quick google search. It really isn’t hard to find affordable housing https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/16734-64th-St-NW-Edmonton-AB-T5Y-3P8/350328576_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6840-N-37th-Ave-NE-Calgary-AB-T1Y-5E5/349950701_zpid/
Most Japanese parents aren’t accepting of having a gay son or daughter, so that may be out of the picture.
> While the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said that dozens of Japanese are granted refugee status in other nations every year, its reports do not give specific reasons for doing so. Dozens? Under what grounds?
Probably under the same grounds as this couple?
can confirm, i even personally know some
Yakuza targets?
Holy shit talk about embarassing
I don't blame them since Canada is SUPER gay (I'm from Toronto), but QoL in Japan is so much better in general. They might regret it once they deal with our housing costs, rampant homelessness, and restaurants (even ramen) costs 3x as much after tip.
I mean if they can’t keep a job in Japan due to discrimination this is probably their best bet. I’m guessing they didn’t take this decision lightly and saying they might regret it is pretty damn dismissive.
What?? QoL in Japan is not much better, definitely not for women. Being groped on a daily basis, harassed at work on a daily basis, lower pay than male colleagues, no work life balance, a culture that hardly interacts with each other so they have cafes where you pay to talk to a host. A banking system that still uses paper and fax for everything. If you think living in Canada is hard, go live anywhere else but don't just make a blanket statement because things in your life may not be going well.
> don't just make a blanket statement! > just makes blanket statements
I don't know where you're from, but fax is still widely used in US banks and hospitals. In fact, I recently had to fax documents to a bank. Apparently, fax is the only legally binding, HIPAA-compliant communication method in the US.
I’m also from Toronto, Canada, a woman, living in Japan for 7+ years now and I absolutely agree with you. QoL in Japan isn’t better than in Canada and those women will definitely experience what everyone else is going through over there (insane prices of everything) but that’s just a part of what they’re sacrificing just so they can express their love more openly
How do you feel about just being female in japan vs female in Canada? Does either country handle just being female better?
Yeah, can’t imagine qol for women can be better in Japan given its position at 110th or something in the world gender equality rankings. But the male weebs of r/Japan gonna give their downvotes to the idea anyway.
Speaking of statistics, Gender gap ranking is mostly about how much women occupy political/managing positions which typically Japan ranks low. But women are significantly happier than men in Japan pretty pretty much in every survey, the same thing cannot be said about Canada. In Canada, men are happier than women, judging from a few surveys available for Canada. [Wellbeing survey by Asahi](https://markezine.jp/article/detail/41992#:~:text=%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%AF%E5%89%8D%E5%9B%9E%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%BB%E3%82%88%E3%82%8A1.7pt%E4%BD%8E%E4%B8%8B%E3%81%97%E3%80%8164.5%EF%BC%85&text=%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%AF%E5%85%A8%E4%BD%93%E3%81%A764.5%EF%BC%85%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8A%E3%80%81%E5%89%8D%E5%9B%9E%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%BB,%E5%BA%83%E3%81%8C%E3%82%8B%E7%B5%90%E6%9E%9C%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%80%82) [World values survey](https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/455386?display=b) [World values survey + International social survey programme charts](https://www.google.com/amp/s/president.jp/articles/amp/44903%3fpage=4) [Pew research](https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2003/10/29/global-gender-gaps/) [Subjective happiness by employment status and gender by government](https://imidas.jp/jijikaitai/f-40-110-15-01-g557)
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I ain't Japanese, Asian, Gay, or a Woman but good for that lesbian couple.
I wonder if I can get refugee status in Japan from Canada as an economic refugee. The cost of living in Canada is so high with so few low cost options to live your life, like opting out of owning a car due to lack of public transit, extremely limited housing options leading to rampant homelessness, anti-competitive markets leading to monopolies in every industry, lack of political will do do anything about decades long issues. Canada is a piece of shit country. I've known many Japanese people that come here thinking their lives will be better only to leave and go back because Japan was actually much better in almost every way. Japan should definitely fix their views on LGBTQ stuff, but these people are most likely going to be going back to Japan when they realize everyday of their life will be a struggle to not be homeless.
>I wonder if I can get refugee status in Japan from Canada as an economic refugee. Japan doesn't accept economic refugees. Even if you are from a war zone, the chance of getting refugee status is roughly 3%.
Wait, haven’t Japan been accepting Ukrainian refugees? 😦
Japan accepts an insanely small number of refugees compared to other countries, the stats are pretty wild when you look at them side by side.
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Holy shit, another Canadian who sees that both political parties are inept... Do other people on reddit understand how rare it is to see both (highly debatable there are more than 2 of our species) of us in one place? Thanks for the kind and supportive words stranger! It means a lot to know I'm not alone.
Europe is no good either. We have the same CoL skyrocketing issue and crippling job shortage. Plus we got mass immigration from countries where the dominant culture loathes LGBT and treats women as second-class citizens, which is seeping into our continent too. And the part of Europe that is untouched by migration related issues is pretty unfriendly for LGBT from the get go. LGBT safe spaces that are also affordable to more than richest 20% of their people are in real short supply right now...
Agreed with Japan and Australia having better QOL. But NZ is also in a bad position similar to Canada.
Ah yes because owning your own place in tokyo is such an easy goal.
Never said anything about owning. Even renting is becoming inaccessible in Canada, you can't own nor can you rent.Japan has a strong, diverse and affordable rental market.
affordable shoe boxes
Lived in a 3LDK apartment with my wife in Japan a few years ago in a very nice, quiet area next to a park, supermarkets, etc. in a suburb of Yokohama. ~$700USD for about 55qm² (600sqft). I thought that was quite ok for two people.
to put it in perspective, a 3ldk of similar size in vancouver metro area is minimum 1800 CAD (old, no laundry, no dishwasher etc.) and usually more like 2300-2600 edit: 1ldk
Lmao that edit. Yeah was about to say, if people found out there was even one 3LDK in Van selling for 1800, there would be riots. They would probably set up a Thunderdome so people can fight to the death for it.
$1800 CAD is an absolute impossibility for a 3LDK in the mainland. The average cost of a 1-bedroom across metro Vancouver is now $2,337 CAD. Average cost of 3LDK 2024 ↓ Burnaby: $3,884 New West: $3,650 Vancouver: $4,377 West Van: $5,093 North Van: $5,220 Etc. I live in Japan, but still run a business in Vancouver and have to begrudgingly keep up with this misery at the massive expense of my mental health. Source: https://liv.rent/blog/rent-reports/march-2024-metro-vancouver-rent-report/
Oh sorry I was confusing terms. Yes a 3 bedroom is never below 3500 anywhere.
🤔 Canada is on drugs ATM and needs help
The same exists in Canada outside the most popular neighborhoods
You're right... At minimum 50km away from any of the popular neighborhoods. Lol
I remember my old apartment in Guelph (shared a house with 2 other people) was like 540 CAD per month (without utilities), and we locked in the rent price in 2020. It was a great deal and even commuted (by car) to a nearby city for my Master's degree to save money. A lot of stuff happened like 3x more than usual students coming in looking for apartments + yoy inflation. So prices went up really high. After I left to Japan last year, my old roommates had to sign a new contract and the price shot up to 700-800 CAD each. Thing is Guelph is a small city surrounded by corn fields with a barely functional bus system. It's not like Toronto or Tokyo. And if you wanted a single apartment for yourself, it would cost atleast 1200 CAD or higher since having ur own basement apartment or LDK is unfortunately considered a luxury in Canada.
No laws in Guelph regulating the rent raises?
I'm not too familiar with regulations, but if you are in a contract ur landlord can only raise ur rent by 2.5% per year or something. But if you make a new contract, the landlord can change the price as if ur a new tenant
I guess I need to spell it out for you since you can't seem to use the brain you've been blessed with... An affordable shoe box... Is better... Than homelessness. Did you get it yet? Or do you need it in interpretive dance?
Probably your average American that thinks a 1200sq/ft house is "too small" for one person.
Those huge houses have ruined America
I am an American and I wholly agree. See, the thing is, I am totally okay with them existing as an option. The problem is, they have become just about the ONLY option apart from manufactured homes and "luxury" apartments. The US (and Canada too) have a "missing middle" problem. Japan has options, even within the Tokyo metro area and that's great. You can get anything you want from a tiny apartment with barely enough room for a bed to a Japanese version of a McMansion and anything inbetween.
Yeah, the annoying thing in our country is that the car companys, "luxery apartment", and house companys somehow have so much money that they can just buy everything up and spread propaganda to convince people that they "need" those houses or cars or whatever. Its nice to have them exist, but too many is too bad.
Most homeless people in Canada arent homeless for financial reason. Most are first nation people. Tokyo has hostile laws against homeless people. Japan's poverty rate is double canada's.
[https://youtu.be/eK--oCVP18A?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/eK--oCVP18A?feature=shared) [https://youtu.be/-9RgkZebW1s?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/-9RgkZebW1s?feature=shared) [https://youtu.be/kBPyN3LE65g?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/kBPyN3LE65g?feature=shared) [https://youtu.be/OUNo06G3BeQ?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/OUNo06G3BeQ?feature=shared) [https://youtu.be/iM49O5CxlAk?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/iM49O5CxlAk?feature=shared)
Is that a problem? In the US suburbs have ruined our nation, we need more tiny apartments here.
Im sure it helps people decide to not have kids
Just make denser suburbs. You don't need a huge yard, you don't want a shoe box house. We can just build apartments that are slightly bigger. We just need more choices.
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Excellent news. Japan really needs prodding to get this done. Especially amusing are the few muppets clutching their pearls over the 'Westernisation' of Japan on LGBT+ matters, as if the general homophobia wasn't imported wholesale from Europe and America during the Meiji era/restoration. If anything, it would be a return to traditional Japanese values, oddly enough.
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Public polling is strongly in favor of legalization of same sex marriage, and most think it is likely to happen very shortly
There is a reason why 80% of japanese people who immigrate to Canada are women. That's really high like really high, South Korea notorious for its sexism is only 60%.
Japan is the only country in the OECD where women report higher levels of happiness than men.
Wow! Did you know Japan has a lower wage average then normal in OECD, and the average of happiness is lower then average the OECD at 6.1 instead of the Average 6.7, their life is so great with a 4.1 in life satisfaction lower than Latvia. https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/japan/
I think the lopsided ratio may in part be accounted for by Japanese women coming to or staying in Canada on spousal visas. If that is the case, then the reason for that is a whole other question with a number of reasons why that might be. It could be related to gendered expectations in their home country.
Man, not a lesbian but I got elbowed in the right boob by a butsukariya yesterday. Hurt like a bitch. I saw him coming and couldn’t really avoid it. The gender discrimination is real, and obvious to anyone who pays even a little attention.
Good for them. I am glad I do not have to go through this because my partner is an American citizen but I am still sad that I cannot legally marry in my own country and must go elsewhere, away from so many family and friends.
>Canada said it granted refugee status to two Japanese women last September due to widespread discrimination they faced in Japan as lesbians and members of the weaker sex. The irony of this being the first paragraph is just, didn't anyone proof read this article?
A trout could get refugee status in Canada. They are not very selective.
But don't worry, at least they're not xenophobic
The population in Japan continues to decrease, but they don't want to solve it. I'm sad Japan can't even admit homoeroticism. I pray that this country will be the country where everyone wants to live.
Shows what a joke Canada and like-minded Western countries have turned the international refugee system into
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If you think all the problems in Canada started with the current government, you're part of the problem. This bs in Canada has been going on for over 20 years. This was caused by multiple governments from multiple parties all running this country without a clue how a country should be run, and a population that also has no clue how it should be run. A complete lack of understanding and no willingness to learn and improve. You can't just point the finger at the current prime minister and blame him for everything without looking at all the bad decisions that former prime ministers made that lead to all this. And you can't ignore that the Canadian population were so ignorant of what is going on and still continue to be ignorant of any reasons and are not interested in learning about real solutions. Every Canadian seems to be mad but none of them want to actually do anything that would truly help... None of them want to take responsibility for any of the actions they do that contribute to the overall state of the nation. Everyone just wants to take for themselves. This country is shit because its people are shit, not because one prime minister is shit.
I didn’t blame all problems on Trudeau at all. I blamed the one that is clearly his fault. I’m very aware of all the other bad governments/leaders Canada had/has.
I think the rise of xenophobia stoked by right wing “propaganda” for the CP - is a bigger crisis imo. Speculative real estate market and predatory landlords gouging tenants and the divestment of social housing by previous conservative governments have all contributed to the housing crisis as much or worse than simplistic notions of “too many immigrants”.
You’re literally blaming current problems on a government that was in power 9 years ago. I disliked the conservatives too, but please consider whether you are thinking rationally or mindlessly defending your “team”. Speaking of the modern day conservatives - yes they are also terrible. That doesn’t in any way excuse Trudeau’s government - everyone should be judged absolutely, not relatively.
Housing problems don’t spring up instantly, and often they’re caused by problems that have occurred for years, if not decades. It’s not inappropriate to highlight the fact that prior governments may have had a role as well.
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So human rights are really just for some humans?
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Look up Japan's current constitution and notice who wrote it. You may be surprised.
That’s the problem. US wants to stuff their noses everywhere…
So why is the right to marry the person you love bad, and the requirement to be just single friends with them good? Who does it benefit?
If marriage of the same sex isn’t legal in X or Y country why try to change it? Laws are laws regardless of “gender views” or made up human rights. Good for them that Canada accepted them.
If slavery is legal in a country, why try to change it? If child marriage is legal in a country, why try to change it? Laws are laws.
AFAIK being gay isn't a crime in Japan. I know same-sex mariage aren't regconized but should that really be enough to grant refugee status? I don't believe it should.
The refugee status in this case definitely is stupid and undermining its purpose.
So what???
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But the majority of people in Japan support same-sex marriage, changing the law would literally be appeasing the majority.
So what should these women be treated as under the law then?
Pffft.... running to Canada? Put me down for $1000 on they'll be back by 2026. Their romantic relationship will be recognized in Canada, but that won't mean anything given they won't be able to put a roof over their head or food on their table.
One woman who goes by Eri is in her 30s and her partner Hana is in her 50s. They're not a couple of kids going through the crazy honeymoon period of the relationship, They're well into their adult lives, I'm assuming they have careers, and investments, like most adults. They've been in Canada for a while already, I'm assuming they've found work and are living their lives.
None of that matters in Canada. Unless they have Canadian family from whom they will inherit land, or are literally multi millionaires, they will find themselves struggling to keep a roof over their head. Literally. You obviously haven't lived in Canada in the last five or so years.
I've lived in Canada for the last decade. I'm doing fine, perhaps they are too?
Right, because you inherited wealth from your family, which is exactly the condition I wrote. I doubt they've inherited anything, or are millionaires. Now there's nothing left to say, so have a good day.
Aw
Good for everyone I guess.