In a first for Japan, the city of Chiba held a ceremony Tuesday to issue certificates recognizing both the partnerships of sexual minority and common-law couples. “I wish you happiness in becoming better partners,” Mayor Toshihito Kumagai said at a ceremony involving six couples. According to the city located to Tokyo’s east, Chiba’s recognition of partnerships — regardless of whether they are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples, or mixed-gender common-law couples — is the first of its kind in Japan.