Japan television to air first drama about lesbian couple

TOKYO, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Japan's Fuji Television is to air a drama featuring a lesbian couple, but activists have denounced the show as "out-of-date."

Transit Girls, which starts Nov. 7, is the tale of two stepsisters, ages 18 and 21, who are initially incompatible with each other but eventually fall in love, The Japan Times reported.

But a promotion photo for the eight-episode series features the two leads, actresses Sairi Ito and Yui Sakuma, lying in bed together naked, gazing into each other's eyes and smiling.

Maki Muraki, a head of Nijiiro Diversity, a Japanese nonprofit, said the photo is relaying an unwanted message about Japan's LGBT population.

"Having two girls lying naked on a white sheet and using words like 'forbidden' is a little out of date, I think," Muraki said.

Muraki said Japan's LGBT community should not be viewed merely through the lens of sex.

"We face a lot of difficulties in our life, for example in the workplace. To be told that the image of us is one of sex doesn't make me happy," Muraki said.

Fuji TV is marketing the show as a "love story," where the two main protagonists just happen to be girls, rather than a heterosexual couple. The network said it is the first drama to deal with the story of "girls' love."

Muraki said Japanese media should tackle the social issues LGBT people face, pointing out how U.S. shows like Modern Family portray gay parents rearing children like other households.

Japan has been making new strides in rights for same-sex couples. In March, Tokyo's Shibuya Ward was the first district to recognize same-sex partnerships as marriages.

Hiroshi Hase, the newly appointed education minister, said that he would promote support for LGBT students in schools.

"I believe sexual-minority students at elementary and junior high schools have been left out," Hase said.