J-Pop Star Shinjiro Atae Speaks Out After Coming Out as Gay, Reveals How His AAA Bandmates Reacted
Shinjiro Atae is speaking up about coming out. The 34-year-old Japanese singer made headlines after coming out as gay at the end of July during a concert, making him one of the very first J-Pop idols to do so.
In a new interview with Teen Vogue, he spoke about his decision to do so. Here’s what Shinjiro Atae had to say… Keep reading to find out more… On slowly coming out to close friends and family: “I’ve been coming out for many years; two-and-a-half years ago to my mom, and five years ago to one of my best friends, which was my first time coming out in the Japanese language.
It was easier for me to come out in English, because it’s not my first language. When I speak English, I have to act a little differently.
It’s not 100 percent me. But when I talk in Japanese, I don’t even have to think about it, it just comes out naturally.” On the confusion he felt growing up and rejecting his identity: “I kind of knew that I was gay since I was a kid, but I didn’t even know what ‘gay’ meant.
