Shibuya Ward started issuing certificates for same-sex partnership last year, and just a week ago, the Taiwan Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage was unconstitutional.  All these changes in East Asia provided the perfect timing for a public seminar on a comparative research, funded by the Sumitomo Foundation, entitled “A Comparative Study of Marriage Equality in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan”.  It was held on May 26 at the University of Hong Kong. After our respective presentations from the three research sites, we had a lively and critical discussion on marriage equality, marriage as an institution, the meaning of diversity, and much more.