The Politics of LGBT Policy Adoption: Shibuya Ward’s Same-Sex Partnership Certificates in the Japanese Context

This article will examine the determinants of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) policy adoption in Shibuya, one of the twenty-three city wards of Tokyo, by taking an actor-specific approach to the first case of officially recognized same-sex partnership in Japan. How did the sexual minority issue become the subject of official agendas? How did actors both inside and outside the municipal government seize agenda-setting opportunities for government action? The results indicate that key policy makers’ entrepreneurship played a primary role in the official recognition of same-sex partnership by linking policy solutions with agenda-setting opportunities. This analysis demonstrates that the adoption of municipal LGBT policy does not necessarily reflect the redistribution of non-material resources, such as citizen values, but rather resembles the patterns of welfare politics.

女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者及跨性别者群体（LGBT）政策采纳中的政治： 日本语境下的涉谷区同性伴侣证书

关键词： 女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者及跨性别者群体，同性伴侣关系，性别少数群体，道德政治，涉谷，日本。
本论文通过对日本第一例官方承认的同性伴侣关系运用具体行为者方法进行分析，对于东京二十三个区之一的涉谷在采纳女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者及跨性别者群体（LGBT)政策中的决定性因素进行考察。性别少数群体的问题是怎样提上官方议程的？市政府内部和外部的行动者们是怎样抓住设定议程的机遇的？ 研究结果表明，通过将政策解决方案与议程设定机遇相连接，关键的政策制定者的企业家精神在同性伴侣关系获得官方承认问题上起到了主要作用。本文的分析表明，城市对于女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者及跨性别者群体（LGBT）政策的采纳并不必然反映出诸如公民价值观等非物质性资源的再分配，反而更接近于福利政治的模式。
Translated from English by Li Guo