Anal sodomy was decriminalized in 1881 when the provision was dropped from Japan's Penal Code. It was eliminated by supervision of Gustave Boissonade, a French legal scholar who served as an advisor to develop the legal system in Japan.

Article 24 of the Japanese Constitution states that "marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis".

In Japan, there are no laws restricting to discussion or promotion of LGBTQ+ topics.

Transgender citizens have the option to legally change their gender only after undergoing sex-reassignment surgery.

Full discrimination protections. Missing Housing Discrimination protections.

Japan does not have LGBT protections from discrimination in employment, housing, etc. The Japanese Constitution promises equal rights to all and this is widely interpretted as extending to LGBT citizens.

In a 2008 report by the UN Human Rights Committee, they expressed concern about discrimination against LGBT people in several areas, including employment.

In a 2008 report by the UN Human Rights Committee, they expressed concern about discrimination against LGBT people in several areas, including housing. According to Article 23(1) of Japan’s Public Housing Law, it only applies to married and unmarried different-sex couples. However, in October of 2012, the Japanese government stated that Article 23(1) was abolished and, therefore, same-sex partners were no longer excluded.

However, the Human Rights Committee report states that in reality, "municipalities decide who can rent public houses under the amended Public Housing Law and few municipal policies allow same-sex couples to qualify. Thus, in practice same-sex couples remain excluded from public housing."

The Japanese do not have a specific policy either banning or encouraging LGBT participation in the Self Defense Forces. Research by Sabine Fruhstuck has shown that many Japanese do not object to open LGBT service in the military provided it does not interfere with their performance.

The United States State Department states: "there are no laws regulating or addressing same-sex couples adopting in Japan, but there have been no known cases of this happening."

The national age of consent is 13 for both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples. Cities and prefectures may set higher ages of consent.

Red Cross Japan reduces deferral for high HIV risk individual from 12 months to 6 months.