Trans News > English > 1999
Trans News in Japan - 1999
The Japan Times, Nov.
26, 1999
Mainichi Daily News, Jun.
26, 1999 Apr. 30, 1999
The Daily Yomiuri, Jun.
26, 1999
(The Japan Times, Nov. 26, 1999)
Third legal sex-change operation starts
URAWA, Saitama Pref. (Kyodo) Doctors at Saitama Medical College began performing Japan's third legal sex-change operation Friday on a woman in her 20s diagnosed as suffering from a gender-identity disorder.
A team of doctors started the first of a series of operations on the woman at around 9 a.m., college officials said.
The first operation, which includes removal of the uterus and ovaries and an extension of the urethra, was expected to take about six hours, the officials said.
In the second operation, to be conducted after six months upon the patient's request, doctors will construct simulated male genitalia for the patient.
The team is led by Takao Harashina at the college's general medical center in Kawagoe, north of Tokyo.
The college began Japan's first legal sex-change operation in October 1998 on a 31-year-old woman from the Tohoku region and the second legal operation on a 38-year-old man in June.
In October, the college's ethics committee approved operations for three more people -- including the latest patient, a resident of eastern Japan -- who have gender-identity disorders.
(end)
copyright 1999 The Japan Times
(Mainichi Daily News Saturday, June 26, 1999)
Man undergoes sex-change operation
KAWAGOE, Saitama(1) - The nation's second legal sex-change operation was completed on a man diagnosed as a transsexual at a hospital here, officials said on Friday.
The operation - the first legal male-to-female operation - followed a female-to-male operation performed at Saitama Medical College Hospital last October.
The 38-year-old medical worker from the Chubu region(2) has been living as a woman for the past 21/2 years.
He was undergoing counseling and treatment with female hormones at the college hospital to prepare for the operation, doctors who treated the patient said.
The name and details of the man are being withheld to protect his privacy.
Honoho Morino, who runs a support group for transsexuals, welcomed the news of the first male-to-female operation.
"It is great news for us, if this operation leads to the public recognition (on the necessity of such treatment)," Morino said.
"Previously, many transsexual males underwent illegal operations (to resolve their anguish)."
Unlike sex-change operations on a woman, which comprise two separate surgical procedures, those on a man are completed in one operation lasting around five to six hours.
His penis and the testes were removed and a simulated vagina was constructed using the penis' skin, the doctors said.
The man is a transsexual, whose psychological sexual identity differs from his anatomical one.
Transsexuals often suffer severe mental anguish, believing they have been born into "the wrong body."
Before the operation, the patient told the Mainichi how he suffered mistreatment from others who perceived him as a "pervert."
At one time, he was subjected to bullying at his workplace.
He said he was "relieved" to be told that the sex-change operation was "legitimate medical treatment."
"Slowly but surely, I can feel that society is beginning to understand (our plight)," the patient said.
In March 1997, a court granted the 38-year-old patient permission to change his given name on the family register to a female one.
He is hopeful that he can change his official sex on the register after the operation.
It is estimated that one in 100,000 women and one in 30,000 men feel they were born the wrong sex.
Some 2,000 to 7,000 people across the country want to live as a member of the opposite sex, the medical college has estimated.
Until last October, there had been no known
sex-change operations in the country since 1969, when a
gynecologist was convicted of violating the Eugenic Protection
Law following operations on three male prostitutes.
Copyright(c) 1999 Mainichi Shimbun
Under the copyright law of Japan, use of all materials on this
website, except for personal and noncommercial purposes, is
prohibited without the express written permission of the Mainichi
Newspapers Co. Copyrights of the materials belong to the Mainichi
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Notes
(1) a city next to Tokyo
(2) about 100 - 300 kilometers west of Tokyo
(Daily Yomiuri, June 26, 1999)
Man undergoes historic sex
change
Nation's 1st male-to-female gender-swap surgery takes place in
Saitama
URAWA -- Doctors at Saitama Medical College on Friday conducted a sex-change operation on a man who had a gender identity crisis, hospital officials said.
The surgery is the nation's first to be performed on a man, and only the second sex-change operation to be undertaken in the country since they became recognized in recent years as appropriate medical treatment, the officials said.
In October, a woman aged about 30 underwent sex-change surgery at the college's general medical center.
On this occasion, the patient is a male health industry professional in his 30s from the Chubu region, the officials said.
The patient had suffered from a strong sense of incongruity with his male sexuality since adolescence and had agonized over his desire to be a woman, the officials said, adding that he had been living as a woman in terms of appearance since beginning counseling and hormone treatments two years ago.
The medical ethics committee of the college approved the operation as the final stage of the patient's treatment last month.
The decision was made on the basis that standard medical procedure would do nothing to improve the patient's gender identity crisis.
The operation, conducted by a sex-change surgery team, dubbed the "gender clinic," led by Prof. Takao Harashina and Katsuyuki Kinoshita, began the operation at 9:10 a.m. in the intensive care unit of the medical center.
The operation ended successfully at 3:50 p.m., doctors said.
The patient's sex organs were removed and female internal sex organs were constructed during the operation.
A 10-day hospitalization period would follow the surgery, the officials said.
In the first stage of the surgery conducted in October, the womb and ovaries of the female patient were removed, but the construction and grafting of the male sex organ has yet to be carried out.
Harashina explained that the second stage of the surgery had been delayed because of the patient's financial constraints. Sex-change operations are still deemed unacceptable by society and are not covered by state medical insurance, he said.
Copyright 1999 The Yomiuri Shimbun
(Mainichi Daily News Friday,
April 30, 1999)
Transsexual gets compensation for injury
Mainichi Shimbun
A transsexual injured by a man has been awarded
compensation according to the same standards
that would normally be applied for women,
in a ruling handed down at the Tokyo District
Court.
"The plaintiff's lifestyle, looks and
mind are exactly the same as a woman's. Therefore,
in awarding compensation for aftereffects
(of the injury), it is correct to judge according
to the standards that would apply to a woman,"
Presiding Judge Yoshio Narita said.
The court ordered the man judged responsible
for injuring the transsexual to pay 1.7 million
yen in compensation.
The court ruled that the transsexual was
injured in September 1997. The defendant
was drunk and mistook the transsexual for
a woman. He called out to the transsexual,
who was walking along a road in Sumida-ku,
Tokyo, and they walked to a nearby building
and stopped on a landing There, the man suddenly
pushed the transsexual, who fell down the
stairs.
Copyright(c) 1999 Mainichi Shimbun
Under the copyright law of Japan, use of
all materials on this website, except for
personal and noncommercial purposes, is prohibited
without the express written permission of
the Mainichi Newspapers Co. Copyrights of
the materials belong to the Mainichi Newspapers
Co. unless stated otherwise.
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