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.

Civil unions in some cities. Nationwide civil unions and gay marriage pending.

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

Law 111 gave unmarried transgender citizens over the age of 22 with no children under the age of 20 the option to legally change their gender, only after undergoing sex-reassignment surgery.

Non-binary gender is not legally recognized in Japan.

However, the city of Yokosuka recognizes the relationships of people of all genders, including "x-gender", the common term for non-binary in Japan.

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. Employement Discrimination protections only in Tokyo and Ibaraki.

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 US State Department states: "there are no laws regulating or addressing same-sex couples adopting in Japan."
It was reported in 2016 that many same-sex couples have been rejected by public authorities and are told “Children will never be fostered” by same-sex couples and “couples of friends are not accepted.”
There is however one documented case from 2016 of same-sex foster parents in Osaka.

Japan has a Self Defense Force in place of a traditional military. There is no 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.

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

There are no laws banning conversion therapy in Japan.

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.