Blue Boy Trial

About

A forgotten trial in 1960s Tokyo challenges the law, society, and the very right to live as oneself.

Tokyo, 1965. The city is booming from the Olympic-driven economic surge. Amid growing internationalisation, the government introduces new measures to reinforce public morals — particularly public prostitution by women. As police intensify their crackdown, they are confounded by the presence of so-called “Blue Boys”: transgender women who, though still legally registered as male, live and work as women. Unable to charge them under the current Anti-Prostitution Law, which only applies to “female” prostitutes, authorities instead arrest Dr. Akagi, the surgeon who performed their gender-affirming operations, accusing him of violating the Eugenic Protection Law for rendering his patients infertile.

Meanwhile, Sachi (newcomer Nakagawa Miyu) a café waitress quietly planning her future with her fiancé hides a past she thought she had left behind — she too was one of Dr. Akagi’s patients. When a defence attorney asks her to testify in court, Sachi — alongside two other transgender women — is forced to confront her history and identity before a society unwilling to see her for who she really is.

Based on the real-life “Blue Boy Incident,” Blue Boy Trial sheds light on a ground-breaking yet long-overlooked case that questioned the legality of gender-affirming surgery — and, more profoundly, what is means to find happiness by being your authentic self. With empathy and precision, director IIizuka Kasho (himself a transgender man) and Nakagawa Miyu (also transgender) bring to life a moment that reshaped Japan’s understanding of LGBTQ+ issues and continues to resonate today.