Listening to Trial

Relating this tweet, I pick up the article about Japanese same sex marriage trial from my journal.

Since I knew that everyone can listen to a trial in a court house if that trial is open to the public, I had been curious about it. On the other hand, it is awkward to watch sever trial, atrocious crimes for instance, so I couldn't get a chance to make it.

But in early this year, there was news that LGBTq plaintiffs sued Japanese government.

They insisted that the denial of same sex marriage was violation of the freedom to marry that's guaranteed by the Constitution.

And I found the plaintiffs asked people to come to listen to their trial, for showing to the Government how much people care about this issue.

As "an ally" of LGBTq people, and as a curious person, this was the best opportunity for me. In April 15th I visited the Tokyo district court house.

Despite the Monday morning, a lot of people waited in front of the court house to listen to this trial. The seats of visiter's gallery were limited, so a lottery was held for listeners.

Fortunately I won.

For the first time I entered the court house.

The trial was ceremonious. Seats of justices were set on higher place, a chief of justice entered the room from a big special door behind seats of justices after everyone settled in seats.

any recording are prohibited. Instead, there is recording time for media.

"Recording time start!"

A court staff shouted and for 2 minutes, nobody moved, nobody spoke, nobody made noise.

It was, to be honest, the funniest time of the day.

On this day, 2 plaintiffs and 3 lawyers of them stated their opinions.

1 of plaintiffs was in his 60s who lived with his partner over a decades. He said that he might have only 10 years because of HIV and another disease, so he crave to give a bright future for younger generation.

The other plaintiff was a mother of 3 children. She lived with her children and her female partner but they couldn't have joined custody because they were "just friends." And when she was hospitalize due to cancer, she had to keep concern whether her partner could be permitted to be with her, because they were "just friends."

Both plaintiffs were ordinary people and this was the first time they participated in a trial. Assuming that they have to show up in front of the media, it must have been a huge decision for them.

The statements of the plaintiffs and their lawyers were really touching. I could hear some sobbing from visiter's gallery.

How can the Government lawyers contradict these pure, simple and honest couples?

The defendant's statements must have been the high-light of this day.

However the Government lawyers just asked to postpone their chance because, as they said, they needed more time for preparation for a counter-statement to finish this trial as soon as possible.

The rest of time turned to scheduling and it was just like daily conversation. A gap between the ceremonious atmosphere and "How 'bout in June?" "Oh, court house is already full in June" kind of conversation was humorous.

Although I intended to listen to the trial just one time, now, I'm really curious about what statement the Government will bring in the next day. So I'm planning to go to the Tokyo district court house in July again.