Hopefully Mods and Admins are okay with me posting this:
My only thing I'm gonna say is this: A lot of stuff is happening in Japan right now in regards to human rights (ranging from immigration discussions, racism, discrimination, and Queer people). Japan is dealing with onset of imported Transphobia and other far-right wing conspiracies, thanks to specific news outlets (which I'll refrain from posting since I don't wanna bring more attention to them), and the language in a recent Japanese bill (which honestly is a nothing-burger) to "understand" LGBTQ+ community, was amended to be more inclusive towards women (aka, buying into Transphobic crap about Trans Women in Bathrooms). That and the language beyond that in the bill shows how out of touch the Government is by not using common language used by the community (I've been noticing this discussed a lot by Queer people I follow online in Japan).
Not only that, there is ongoing push and public support of Queer marriage in Japan, but the current government has zero interest in addressing it or wanting to really do anything, and even with the local courts ruling in favor, it's not enough to really make it legal. This also puts a lot of non-Japanese with partners in Japan into legal limbo, because of Japan's intense refusal to not want to allow for same sex marriage or give protections to partners.
There was a recent case where a court gave a "long term" VISA to someone's spouse in Japan, who has actively sought to stay in the country, but it only applies for up to a year and obviously is not along term solution. There's more information in the article linked.
So if anyone wants to try and pretend any of homophobia, transphobia, etc., doesn't exist in Japan or that Japan doesn't see Queer issues and stuff, along with using it also as a defense force for the bullcrap in games, saying Japan "doesn't get it", can screw off. Tired of gamers and anime fans having this view and seeing some comments dive into similar things in here, is beyond frustrating. That and the idea that "It's Japan" as a means to why these type of things are in here, is not the defense you think it is.
One Additional Edit while I'm thinking about it:
Hashino has a long history of enabling problematic and hostile views. While he's not the only one at Atlus who has caused problems (see: Producer for Persona 5 Royal, which is not Hashino, only relenting for the International version to modify some content), it's part of the problem with creative a hostile narrative and dated views on Queer people. Not to mention, the framing of the Queer men in Persona 5 and even in Royal, portrays us as predators and gay panic. Hashino's decisions in Catherine Fullbody are especially hurtful for the Trans community, given the whole mess with Rin, and then what they did to Erika in the true ending (since it's supposed to be a reality where everyone is happier). It also gives the illusion of being "trans is just a phase", too, and I don't think I need to get into why that stuff is toxic and harmful.
This is part of a grand scope of way media portrays people and it does have effects in reality, because it normalizes it. Just seeing how anime and gamers are in regards to how they view our community, on top of active producers and creators, is enough to show this. And it completely throws people under the bus who are actively trying to make things better and make it a more hostile environment. I've seen such denialism that "Queer" people either "don't exist in Japan and it's been imported" or "it's not that bad, stop complaining", and among other things.
Unfortunately, Atlus has a long history of issues that normalize this crap, and if anyone tries to push back at us calling this out, that says more on you than us.