Aya Kamikawa

is a Tokyo municipal official. With her election in April 2003, she became the first openly transgender person to seek or win elected office in Japan. Life Aya Kamikawa was born on January 25, 1968, in Tokyo's Taitō Ward. She is the second child of three. She attended Hosei University Second Senior High School, an all-boys school. In 1990, Kamikawa graduated from Hosei University with a degree in Business Administration. She began to work in the field of public relations whilst presenting masculine. In 1995, she resigned from her post, citing stress associated with gender dysphoria, and began hormone replacement therapy. In 1998, she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder by a psychiatrist. In 1999, she started working at a private company whilst presenting feminine. She also changed her name to Aya that same year.