I had shared flat with French gay man in Chiba for about eight months.That doesn’t make me an expert on Japanese gay gulture,but according to what he says,Shinjyuku 2cho-me is the largest gay/lesbian identity/culture district he had ever seen,that including Le Marais in Paris.Also I’ve learned Hibiya park is one big rendez-vous point for gay in Tokyo.

Part of the reason why LGBT rights in Japan a minor issue is because this has been considered as personal business and not social issues.And npbody was against this because they weren’t oppressed by the power.

However, while I do believe that Japan is less liberal about LGBT rights/issues than any SE Asian country (with the very possible exception of Malaysia, and perhaps Singapore) I may very well have exaggerated in the comparison with Korea and China. Oh, and let’s not forget North Korea. I can’t imagine the DPRK takes very kindly to it.

The only country I have been to in (North-) East Asia is Japan, so I don’t know what the situation is like in China, Taiwan, South Korea, etc. I have been all over Southeast Asia though, and I can’t agree with such a broad statement. If you compare Japan to Theravada Buddhist countries like Thailand or Cambodia, sure. homosexuality is accepted pretty openly – although many people will say that it’s wrong, they tolerate it. But compared to the predominantly Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia (and also to the less-Muslim-but-anal-retentive Singapore), I would say Japan is much more accepting of homosexuality. I don’t know about the Philippines as I haven’t been there.

Compared to the US, there is an amazing social tolerance for cross-dressing in Japan, Korea, Thailand, and elsewhere, far more than anything seen anywhere in the West.

Besides that, as a couple of commenters have noted above, most minority politicians are not explicitly running to serve their minority, except for a few whose minority happens to also be their home constituency (the Cuban-Americans in Miami come to mind).

I think the key benefit of having minorities in politics is that they bring some of the minority’s voice directly to the policy-making table. All these laws go through committee, and the committees are generally less about constituencies than they are about focused legislative expertise.

Japan is kind of an odd case in terms of LGBT attitudes in that both historically and today the taboo against homosexual SEX seems to be on the weak side, but the space for gay/lesbian identity/culture is still very, very small.

I personally have had basically no experiences speaking with openly gay Japanese men in Japan although there have definitely been a couple of likely suspects, although I do know some young women who are openly lesbian. When I was studying in Kyoto a few years ago I was friends with a couple of gay Filipino guys who were also studying in the area who didn’t seem to have any trouble meeting Japanese guys who were gay in private, but didn’t seem to have any luck meeting guys who would date openly.

On a related note, interesting article here on recent events in China: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/25/gay-rights-china-beijing
When I was in Xian in 2003, I was rather shocked to find an extremely flagrant gay dance club directly next door to the youth hostel where I was staying (the disco beats were kind of irritating at night), since I had thought it was still banned in China. I was told by the hostel staaff that the police would go and raid it every once in a while, but were probably really just looking for bribes, and the club had made a habit of hiring women to hang out and drink so if authorities came they could make a reasonable case that it wasn’t REALLY a gay club. I’m curious to know if things have continued to become easier for them.

An openly out political leader does change people’s perceptions of gays. It gives visibility to someone doing a responsible job. That a gay person is not restricted to entertainment and fashion.

Visibility is important. For example Obama, regardless of whether he turns out to be a good or bad president, has changed people’s perceptions of the US. The general shorthand for American – is usually something along the lines of a fat George W Bush clone and the idea that a society often castigated as being racist has elected a black president has thrown many for a loop. Also that black people have other roles in US society besides sports and entertainment (Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell being two notable exceptions)

An openly out official doing a good job would also do the same. However I must agree with LB’s point that to elect someone simply because they fall within our special interest group is short sighted. What’s needed is someone who can do the job AND look at the special areas of concern.

You don’t. Anymore than America needed a black President to integrate the military in the 1950s, or get the civil rights laws through in the 1960s, or an all-female Supreme Court to declare abortion legal.

As I said, a good politician (OK, oxymoron, but work with me here…) will look out for the needs of ALL their constituents. I could care less if my local representative is gay, used to be a guy, is black or what have you. I start caring when that person stands up and says “I belong to group xxx and if elected I will look out for all the members of my group!” Wrong answer. Correct answer: “I am running in Tokyo District 13, and if elected I will look out for all the people of District 13!”