“After I met Hiroko, the ice in my heart melted.”
An influential Japanese businesswoman has revealed she is in a same-sex relationship.
Kazuyo Katsuma, who was previously named on the Wall Street Journal’s ’50 Women to Watch’ list, opened up in an interview with Buzzfeed Japan.
Katsuma, who has worked for Chase Bank, McKinsey & Company and J. P. Morgan, is also well-known in the country for her advocacy on behalf of working mothers.
Speaking to Buzzfeed, Katsuma revealed she is in a relationship with LGBT rights activist Hiroko Masuhara.
She explained that as a girl she had always experienced feelings for both men and women, but became aware that same-sex attraction was seen as a “bad thing”.
Katsuma has been married before and has three children, said she learned to suppress her feelings towards women.
She explained: “I kept a tight lid on my feelings of attraction to [women].
“After I met Hiroko, the ice in my heart melted, although it took a few years.”
Japan is more liberal than many other countries in Asia when it comes to LGBT rights.
Although there is no federal recognition of same-sex relationships in Japan, at least seven subdivisions have passed policies allowing partnership certificates to be issued to same-sex couples, while couples who marry overseas can also gain some level of legal recognition.
