JAPAN - Apr 18, 2003 Aya Kamikawa, 35, will be the first transgender candidate to be officially accepted onto the ballot for Tokyo's municipal government elections. She will be listed as a female, even though she is legally considered to be a male by Japanese law.Local government officials ruled that she be allowed to run for office as a woman after receiving her candidacy petition in which Kamikawa had left blank a question regarding her gender. Kamikawa is planning gender reassignment surgery, but even afterwards she will continue to be listed as a male on official identity documents. |