Rainbow flags were flown and waved through Tokyo’s busy Shibuya and Harajuku areas for Tokyo Rainbow Pride events this weekend, with around 15,000 people marching through the streets on Sunday.
This year marks the 30th anniversary since the first Pride parade was held in Japan in August 1994, when a few hundred people took off from Shinjuku’s Chuo Park and met up with others at Shibuya’s Miyashita Park for a total of roughly 1,100 participants. Now, Tokyo hosts one of the largest Pride events in Asia, with its turnout still increasing every year.
Volunteer Tomoyuki Gochi was invited by his friends to Tokyo Rainbow Pride for the first time last year. He said he was impressed with the vibrant atmosphere and decided to lend a hand this time.
“I didn't even know much about this event itself, but when I actually went and saw it, I had so many amazing friends there, and it felt so good to be active within this community where everyone shares the similar connection,” he said.
"It’s fun to see everyone dressing however they like, not caring about what others think, in a situation where it feels like everyone's on the same team and just smiling,” said another participant, who only gave her first name as Chris.
Under the theme “Until it changes, don’t give up,” this year’s Tokyo Rainbow Pride was held after an eventful 12 months for Japan’s LGBTQ movement.
In June, soon after the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, parliament approved a controversial LGBT understanding law that was intended to curtail discrimination but ultimately watered down phrasing to address conservative lawmakers’ concerns. Rights groups voiced disappointment, saying it may actually encourage certain forms of discrimination.
In October, the nation’s highest court handed down a landmark decision that requiring people to undergo sterilization surgery to legally change their gender was unconstitutional. And last month, the Sapporo High Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional — the first such ruling handed down by a high court, with the strong phrasing expected to pressure parliament to follow up with action.
Japan remains the only G7 nation that does not recognize same-sex couples, even though over 70% of its citizens support same-sex marriage, public opinion polls show.
Fumino Sugiyama and Natsumi Yamada, the co-representatives of Tokyo Rainbow Pride, said the overwhelming turnout and improved societal understanding didn’t just happen overnight.
Referring to Japan’s first Pride parade, Yamada called it “truly a time when even the term LGBTQ was unknown to most.”
“There were people who started it in such circumstances,” she added “It’s thanks to them that we are able to hold this event today.”
Yamada recalled her first time at Tokyo Rainbow Pride in 2012, with only about a fifth of the turnout this year. She stressed the importance of continuing what the LGBTQ community in Japan started decades ago.
“In order to connect it to the future, we must take action,” she said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.