Japan’s ex-PM debuts as a drag queen… could Gordon Brown be next?

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

The former Prime Minister of Japan has debuted as a drag queen.

Yukio Hatoyama, who served as Prime Minister of Japan from September 2009 to June 2010, appeared this week in Tokyo musical ‘Waist Size Story’.

The former leader played the role of Rosario, a fictional US President who served as the country’s first female Head of State.

The ‘West Side Story’ parody also featured Red Cross Society president Tadateru Konoe and high-profile businessman Yoshihiko Miyauchi.

As former Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently confirmed he is stepping down as an MP at the next election, we keenly await his stage version of ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’.

Last April, Akie Abe – the wife of the country’s current conservative Prime Minister Shinzō Abe – made a surprise appearance atop a float in the ‘Rainbow Pride’ parade.

She is jokingly referred to as the ‘domestic opposition party’ in the country, due to her outspoken views – which often conflict with her husband’s policies.

Her husband did not join her at the event, and instead spent the day visiting victims of the 2011 tsunami.

Japan does not allow same-sex marriage, defining marriage as “based only on the mutual consent of both sexes”, and a recent poll found there is still a majority opposed to the issue.

It also does not have national anti-discrimination laws, though some cities have adopted them regionally.