A celebrity lesbian couple got married in a symbolic ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday (19 April) amid growing calls for Japan to legalize gay marriage.

Actresses Ayaka Ichinose, 34, and Akane Sugimori, 28 — both dressed in white bridal gowns — tied the knot in front of about 80 relatives and friends.

‘We held the wedding ceremony so that it might become easier for others to do the same in the future,’ Sugimori told press after the ceremony in Shinjuku ward.

She said they would try to register their marriage with the municipal office, but expected their application to be rejected.

Sugimori added that they wanted to raise kids together ‘by adopting children or through other means.’

‘We met in a bar in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward in October 2012,’ she told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper earlier this month.

Soon after that, I told her, “I want to marry you.” As she was yearning for a wedding ceremony, I wanted her to realize her dream.’

In March, Shibuya ward became the first local government in the conservative country to recognize same-sex unions ‘as equivalent to marriage’ and will start issuing ‘partnership certificates’ as soon as June.

Ichinose said she was ‘very pleased’ by the move and was considering moving to the ward.

But she noted that as the certificates are effective only in Shibuya, there would not be many cases in which they would be useful.

Two other districts and one city are now considering similar measures.