Poll hopeful happy and gay and ready for a fight

Kanako Otsuji still has the glow of someone who has just tied the knot with the love of her life.

Pictures of Sunday's ceremony are on the wall of her office in the Shinjuku Ni-chome district of Tokyo, showing her in a white dress and veil, holding a bouquet of roses. Beside her is her partner, Maki Kimura, also in a wedding dress, veil and holding roses.

Same-sex marriages are not recognised in Japan, so winning equal rights for gay couples is high on the list of things Ms Otsuji intends to achieve if elected to the Diet.

Nationwide elections are expected to be called for July 22 and Ms Otsuji, who was born in the central Japanese city of Nara and has served as a councillor in the Osaka City Assembly, is the first openly gay person to run for the Diet. The endorsement by the opposition Democratic Party of Japanwas is a major step forward for a range of minority groups marginalised in a society that prides itself on conformity.

'I want to give all kinds of minorities in Japan a voice to express themselves in the political world,' Ms Otsuji says. 'I want young people to have a voice, single mothers, the victims of domestic violence, common-law couples who do not have the same rights as married people - not just gays and lesbians.'

Ms Otsuji's interest in politics began while at university and, at 20, she worked as an intern for a member of the Osaka City Assembly. The member she worked for was vocal against sexual discrimination and Ms Otsuji says witnessing the debates convinced her that she also could help change society.