Jenny and Narumi wept for happiness last week when a Japanese court ruled that barring same-sex marriages was unconstitutional, a decision that allowed them to move a step closer to a legal marriage and starting a family. The ruling by the Sapporo district court, the first in Japan on the legality of same-sex marriages, was a major symbolic victory in Japan, the only country in the Group of Seven major nations to not fully recognise same-sex partnerships. For Jenny and Narumi, who plan on a life together and have held a non-legally binding marriage ceremony, it was much more personal. “I felt light, the light of hope,” said Narumi, 27. Both she and Jenny declined to give their last names to Reuters due to Japan’s still-conservative views on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples.