According to an online survey conducted by the Japan LGBT Research Institute Inc. in 2019 covering about 420,000 people in their 20s through 60s across the country, about 10 percent of the people identify with being LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and sexual minorities.
“In addition to the fact that sexual minorities account for a low percentage, many of them choose not to disclose their sexual orientation, limiting their chances to find partners,” said Kazuhiro Terada, 46, president of Equal Marriage Alliance, a nonprofit advocate of the legalization of same-sex marriages.
Such circumstances may have been an underlying cause of the expansion of matchmaking services for sexual minorities, he added.