Tokyo pride was surprising. Although a nation which does not talk openly about LGBTQIA+ Issues, Japan is also famous for being dedicated. Golden week, a national holiday, has just begun here and it is common for most businesses outside of the hospitality sector to shut down completely. When something is done in Japan it is the focus. So it was with Tokyo Pride.

Tokyo Rainbow Pride has been growing in numbers steadily, with 6,000 people registered for the parade in 2017 and 7,000 in 2018. Figures for 2019 have been predicted to be up to 10,000 in the parade and 180,000 participating in the festival itself. This is especially significant when the fairly disconnected nature of Japanese queer society is considered. Aside from a few places like Shinjuku, where many of the post-parade parties were being held, LGBTQIA+ people can seem rather invisible. It was difficult to find a good hook into the LGBTQIA+ community in Japan in the first few months of being here and that was something I missed dearly.

So, Tokyo has the numbers for a large pride event but what about the atmosphere? While certainly different from western pride events I have attended there was a definite and familiar queer energy around the enormous pride market. Never have I felt so free to interact with strangers around me in Japan, both local and foreign. The energy was not the same level of roaring pride with the feeling of a rocket barely held back–like Edinburgh Trans Pride–but more calm like a very nice smiley elevator with great force behind it and Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ playing. I want to tell you all about this good and important event that happens every year in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo.

April 28th, 2019–Going anywhere in Tokyo, you’re most likely going to be taking a train. I had a good pride look on, for once not worried that the rainbow badges would be recognized as identifying me as queer–that’s what today would be all about. The first difference I notice is the lack of rainbow-clad people on the train whom I could follow to the event. I did get there rather early, so it is possible this was different. After emerging from Harajuku station, the first challenge was to find the event, which actually took a while of my girlfriend and I searching and asking friendly strangers until we found friendly strangers who were not asking the same question as us. There were plenty of people, Japanese and foreign who were unsure where the event was so although the translation of the guidance online about where the market was may have been part of the issue, it could have been made clearer where the Pride event would be. Reaching the market and seeing the arch and the rainbow-coloured crowds was a different story. I didn’t feel lost any more, but at home.

The Tokyo Rainbow Pride market was unquestionably larger than any I had seen before, overtaking even Glasgow Pride (and this one was actually free to get into). The very first row of stalls beyond the arch are dedicated to international groups and foreign embassies that support LGBTQIA+ rights. Japan as a country still has a long way to go in terms of LGBTQIA+ acceptance and understanding, so visibility and interaction with representative countries where those rights are in place is essential–and here was a whole row of countries who have half-decent LGBTQIA+ rights and representation and have not collapsed into anarchy despite the best efforts of, for example, Westminster.

On the topic of anarchists, there were no anarchist groups there that I could see. That does not mean this pride was entirely apolitical. I was surprised to see a group of antifa, a booth in support of Palestine, another supporting equal marriage rights and more. Japan is a country which still has plenty of political apathy, especially among youth; while there was a significant number of these demonstrators and activists who were foreigners, locals were not absent by any means. This pride definitely swings more towards being a party than protest, but still seems to function as a draw for those who want to be political, something which is comforting in the face of the high level of corporate sponsors this event was stuffed with. Just beyond the embassies were elaborate tents and booths for all sorts of companies, including a playstation photo-booth with playstation drag queens, a shrine-style stall for a queer dating app, Docomo (a monolithic telecoms company), Levi Jeans, Nissan and more. Corporate influence over pride is something I am still working out exactly where my feelings lie on and warrants its own article. Japanese people seem to have close connections with brands–designer stuff is entwined in culture and going around Harajuku it feels like every third person has a sponsored instagram for something. It’s no surprise the biggest pride in Japan is stuffed with brands. However, it did not make this pride feel cynical. As far as I saw the people manning the booths seemed passionate and excited to be there. However that was not entirely because of our branded overlords.

Beyond the arches and the embassies and after pushing through the bottleneck of the food trucks was a long row of orange-tarpaulin community stalls, familiar to most UK-based pride events. Here was where the real interest was. Some companies were represented here, but the overwhelming majority were projects genuinely trying to improve the lives of LGBT+ folx in Japan. Here is where the free condoms were, the HIV awareness and sexual health stalls, the legal networks, and also a gathering space for many community groups dressed in anything from elaborate drag to rainbow speedo shorts. It was here I met with Vickie Skorji, a foreign support worker with TELL Japan, a lifeline for queer youth. Eager for some perspective on the real-life situation for Japanese LGBTQIA+ youth I asked her some questions. Quoted on their flyer are some startling statistics–that queer youth in Japan are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers and that 40% of homeless youths identify as LGBT. This is only compounded, as Vickie said, by Japan’s high-pressure education system and higher-than-average rate of suicide in the general population. The flyer is not hopeless however. TELL work with schools to try to provide some framework to combat bullying and exclusion while also providing queer youth a person to talk to to provide support when all too often family or friends are unwilling or even unable to. However, the golden opportunity this market provided was the chance to talk to Japanese people about a topic that is usually unapproachable in the company of strangers and finally get some perspective on what LGBT culture is like as a Japanese native.

Approaching the booth flying the banner of ‘Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation’ (trust me, it looks way more concise in Kanji) I talked to Hayashi Natsuo, an associate professor of International Relations Studies at Toyama University about the need the alliance sees for legislative protection in Japan. He explained that although many Japanese are happy to support LGBTQIA+ rights in principal, these attitudes often prove quite fragile when a member of a family or even a friend group is LGBTQIA+. He emphasized that this was not just an issue in small towns, but in the cities too. In smaller communities, being LGBTQIA+ can be dangerous, not only to the person themselves, but their family, as it brings shame on the person and in Japan a person is still seen as very much tied to their family in terms of respectfulness. In the cities he sees different issues–LGBTQIA+ people, while having more options for community in more cosmopolitan cities like Tokyo and Okinawa, often feel more isolated than their peers. Talking about relationships openly in general is uncommon in Japan, and LGBTQIA+ people face even greater pressure to keep that part of their identity in the closet. Due in part to the reasons above and the lack of general discussion of gender and sexuality in Japanese society, many Japanese do not have enough information to form an opinion of who LGBTQIA+ people are which is divorced from stereotypes and familial strife. Furthermore, this lack of knowledge affects legislative progress on LGBTQIA+ rights–many legislators in Japan are older people who are lacking in positive experience with LGBTQIA+ issues. This slow process, as discussed earlier on my blog, is dangerous. It is limiting the progress of essential legal protections for LGBTQIA+ people which will help to combat the negative stereotypes and situations we face. To check out Hayashi and the Alliance’s work, find it on-line here.

A few final small points are listed here in quick queer bullet points:

Tokyo Rainbow Pride is very much a LGBT pride, which is to say that if you look at the flags, colours and identities represented, it skews heavily towards Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people. There was however merch with polyamorous, nonbinary and genderfluid colours. Asexual representation was the most lacking.

I would not be surprised if the parade had more than the predicted 10,000 people. The parade route was expertly planned and executed in neat little groups, beginning at 14:30 and continuing until after I left at 18:30 and radiated wonderful energy throughout.

This pride seemed to fill the essential function of being a safe space and a shining example for both LGBTQIA+ folx and others.

It’s a shame that the same energy needs to live in such an underground way for the rest of the year in Japan.

There was a significant network of afterparties and a whole week of pride events which are still ongoing this week and can be found on the official Tokyo Rainbow Pride website. I’m out of town just now, so unfortunately can’t tell how those are going, but they sound brilliant.

Overall, Tokyo Pride was surprising in its similarity to other Pride events. While still being a distinctly Japanese way of going about it, the veil of repression seemed to shift and become more translucent. The events were well-planned and structured and you could tell by the atmosphere that most people there were happy. While there was much corporate influence there, it did not seem to diminish the all too important chances for queer community and support groups in Japan to be visible, market themselves and gather information. It’s a positive event that radiates a good queer energy in a different way to most western prides and an important way to gain perspective on what can be a largely invisible community, especially to westerners.

(Also there was an absolutely BOMB Rainbow Research Booth which let you take photos in a throne. HBO, forget the game of thrones, I’ll be your gay of thrones for today!)