The fact that a very brave National soccer Player Marumi Yamazaki, who publicly came out as a Trans Man on New Year’s Day, is more significant than usual is that Japan, his home country, is the only G7 country that STILL DOESN”T RECOGNISE SAME SEX MARRIAGE. 

Yamazaki had won four senior caps for Japan, with all of those national-team appearances coming in 2013. At that time, they were playing for Albirex Niigata in the Nadeshiko League, which was then the top women’s division in the country.  They officially retired in summer 2023, and took up coaching and commentary while also playing futsal, but had not posted on Instagram for over a year before their announcement at the start of 2026.

Yamazaki said he wasn’t initially intending to go public with his news, but that after a year, during which he “surprised and troubled people I haven’t seen in a long time,” he decided to tell the world via social media.  So. he posted to Instagram announcing that he has changed the legal record of his gender and that he is also now a married man, to “a really wonderful woman.

Referring to his marriage to his wife as his “second dream,” he added: “Of course, to change your gender, you need to undergo treatment, which takes time, and considering my age and that of my partner, I feel like now was the only timing!”  The announcemnet has been very well received with Soccer players and fans throughout  Japan  sending their congratulations

Yamazaki is actually the third Japanse athlete to publichly come out as trans and It’s been legal to change the gender marker on documents in Japan since 2003, subject to approval.  Howveer further progess looks highly unlike right now as  Japan’s parliament have just elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country’s first female prime minister.  She is not only against LGBTQ+ rights, but is also a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage and gender equality.

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In 2025 rIght across the globe  SPORTS IS STILL ONE OF THE LAST BASTIONS OF HOMOPOHIBIA, no more evident than in a recent article in OUTSPORTS.  It listed just 16 sportsmen/women who had publicly come out as gay in 2025

One of them was Mitch Brown who became the first AFL player past or present to come out as bisexual when he was interviewed by The Daily Aus. Since then, Brown has continued to speak out about the pressures of hiding his sexuality during his playing career and how the sport’s conformist, macho culture will be affecting players who are not straight.