Aya Kamikawa
Encyclopedia
) is a Tokyo
municipal official, the first transsexual person to seek elected office in Japan
. She was elected in April 2003. Kamikawa, a 35-year-old writer, submitted her election application papers with a blank space for "sex."
Running as an independent under huge media attention, she won her four-year term seat, placing sixth of 72 candidates running for 52 seats in the Setagaya ward
assembly, the most populous district in Tokyo. Despite an announcement that the government would continue to consider her male officially, she stated that she would work as a woman. Her platform was to improve rights for women, children, the elderly, the handicapped, and LGBT
people.
In April 2007, she was re-elected to her second term, placing 2nd of 71 candidates running for 52 in the same ward assembly. She is the only openly transgendered official in Japan at this point.
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
municipal official, the first transsexual person to seek elected office in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. She was elected in April 2003. Kamikawa, a 35-year-old writer, submitted her election application papers with a blank space for "sex."
Running as an independent under huge media attention, she won her four-year term seat, placing sixth of 72 candidates running for 52 seats in the Setagaya ward
Setagaya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood within the ward. The ward calls itself the City of Setagaya in English...
assembly, the most populous district in Tokyo. Despite an announcement that the government would continue to consider her male officially, she stated that she would work as a woman. Her platform was to improve rights for women, children, the elderly, the handicapped, and LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
people.
In April 2007, she was re-elected to her second term, placing 2nd of 71 candidates running for 52 in the same ward assembly. She is the only openly transgendered official in Japan at this point.
External links
- Law concerning special rules regarding sex status of a person with gender identity disorder （TS Law in Japan）
- Kamikawa Aya official site (in Japanese)
- Transsexual stands proud in a land of conformity
- Kamikawa Aya's Profile on the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute headquartered in the United States