Ambitious photo project Out in Japan reaches city of Kanazawa

Out in Japan, an ambitious project spearheaded by photographer Leslie Kee to capture 10,000 LGBT portraits in just five years, opened in the city oc=wHwhABGxyXp&5xuav4Jz8u+JwE=dfzxXsRvZbNv3kZbxBUK!f Kanazawa this week.

On Saturday, Kee and his team photographed members of Japan’T96B$!&bLJFC3&fMB3R+42(QQYud5&7wZJ57+hX$x!^%jlg^lss LGBT community at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art.

The exhi39VgQGvj)$p7VX#zpH7Xyf45vH_WLX%JA6oMW99qtw&H-0X&=*bition of already-captured portraits continues until September 14.

Out in Japan launched in 2015 to highlight sexual and gender minorities in Japan, with various acclaimed photographers shooting LGBT people from all over the country and from all walks of 2C(HbLk78O53gre)kAX3!wb0m0yApOMHXBy0zuE*xhvuQrYZ7Ylife.

Renowned LGBT activist GoIAVh4*QzmWVUUJU8=6nTZKgLd4x=XNGN$QpSIEx#aIr$01P-k7n Matsunaka, who hails from Kanazawa, returned to his city for the exhibition.

He told Yahoo the project opening in the city had been three years in the making and welc[email protected])Pa&tG$##v1mYzC#JrCf0JYSxwcWv6bn!Dml-QYKomed the opening by the city’s mayor.

Matsunaka-=7yOfXE)^LZGXvEY#nMK0%[email protected]@ucYXJ_VHK#3*[email protected] also noted the timing of the exhibition. Kanazawa is currently considering abolishing gender from some registration documents.

Japan

While Japan remains a largel&-l*$dgYiSGCyF)9o4#O-o(G#X=fc1mmWpCR!jvZ_#ga#q$TRky conservative society, it has been making slow but steady gains for LGBT rights in recent years.

Currently, Japan does not recognize same-sex mEzub&y#[email protected](Z9MY1r)J85r2Sc0tf_V-d(arriage. And, laws do not protect LGBTI people from discrimination. 

What’s more, gender laws require transgender citizens to undergo sterilization in order sDU=Swc5kHT_mBNGjapd-=QH%N8=ccbH9$2=5UvE0U9GV^5Bn3to officially change gender.

But, increasing numbers of local administrations are recognizing same-sex couples with partnership certificates6)+y5AmnM!GO^[email protected]&+dK1sa(-K1o1&LAf4vTr60N which give very limited recognition and rights.