Despite the annual Tokyo Rainbow Pride celebrations and the introduction of same-sex partnership certificates in Shibuya in 2015, discrimination against sexual minorities is still very much a reality for the LGBTQ community in Japan. Fast forward six years to the present day though, and the Japanese film industry offers a different narrative. From a young girl’s journey of compassion and acceptance through her uncle’s transgender partner in
Close Knit to a gay lawyer’s battle with love and self-resentment in
Three Stories of Love, these Japanese LGBTQ films strive to present a fuller and more human portrait of Japan’s LGBTQ community, reaching even wider audiences abroad, too.