Advice on studying abroad in Japan as a transgender student

I’m a uni student in the UK doing a joint honours degree in religion and anthropology with a language and a year abroad, I’m just finishing up my first year atm and in your third year you live abroad.

Currently I’m doing Mandarin as my language as it’s the language I love learning the most and I had been taking classes prior to uni. However I already knew LGBTQ rights and issues in China are not great but after speaking to more people I’ve realised that studying there has the high potential to be unsafe for me and will pose significant difficulties which I am worried about it.

I don’t want to give up on having a year abroad or language immersion though, so I am considering now doing an intensive Japanese language summer program to catch me up with the others and then transferring to Japanese language in September. My uni specialises in Asian and middle eastern languages and culture, I would love to study Arabic but the middle east would be the worst possible place for me to study abroad.

The reason why I’m questioning is that I am a trans man (FTM) and despite being on hormones for 10 years and having had some surgeries, I don’t pass consistently due to genetics. I’m confusing to many people due to the mix of masculine and feminine I am, I have a deep voice and some visible facial hair but then I am very short (4’11) and have softer more androgynous facial features and long hair. So I have been questioned about my gender out right by strangers before and am often been assumed to be a woman on first glance before people look at me closer or hear my voice. Whether I pass or not often depends on the culture a person comes from as it affects their views on masculinity and gendered appearance, but that’s a different topic.

I will only be there for a year so I don’t need it to be a paradise. The UK is full of transphobia and I am very experienced in dealing with physical and sexual assault, verbal harassment and medical discrimination. I do need to be able to access my hormones whilst abroad though, either bringing a years supply with me which would be about 3 vials worth, or purchasing them in Japan. I believe that I won’t be in much physical danger but I also don’t want to be lonely and isolated due to potential judgement or misunderstanding.

I think it will be difficult already as I am a mature student and will be in my late twenties when I do my year abroad, I worry about being so much older than other students and from what I’ve read mature students are very uncommon in Japan at undergrad level.

The partner unis are spread all over Japan from Tokyo to Kyoto, Hokkaido to Nagoya to Okinawa etc so I would have a variety of places I could study if that would make a difference.

If anyone has any advice regarding being lgbt or specifically being trans in Japan and any issues I may face as a gender ambiguous person, or the general Japanese attitude to lgbt at the moment or even being a mature student in Japan I would appreciate it! Thanks in advance.