The Tokushima District Court has overturned a decision by the prefectural education board to bar a transsexual man in his 30s from re-enrolling in high school, court officials said Wednesday.
Presiding Judge Hisashi Matsumoto said in the ruling, "It is a fact that the man has already graduated from junior high school and he has the right to file an application for admission to high school."
Takahisa Aoki, head of the education board said, "We deeply regret the court's decision but we have no recourse but to follow it."
The man told the court he transformed himself into a woman "physically and mentally" after graduating from junior high school in 1987.
He also said he has been diagnosed by a hospital as being "very close to being a woman biologically."
The educational board had refused to accept his application to take entrance exams to local high schools on the grounds that "other students would be deprived of admission opportunities if we readmit a high school graduate."
The man said after the ruling, "I want to start my life over as a female high school student."