Tokyo Rainbow Pride to hold a hybrid celebration this year
japantimes.co.jpTokyo Rainbow Pride makes a partial return to in-person events with advanced registration and COVID protocols.The theme this year is “Change the Future Together” with lead organizer Fumino Sugiyama telling The Japan Times that the LGBTQ community hopes to start tackling the challenges it faces in this country. “Within the past 10 years could make our community more seen,” Sugiyama says. “Now that most people have heard the term ‘LGBTQ,’ our next step is to make society recognize the problems that we are facing.” A three-day Pride Festival will take place from April 22 to 24 at Yoyogi Park’s Event Plaza and Outdoor Stage (with limited capacity) and a Pride Parade has been tentatively scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
on April 24. From Yoyogi Park the procession will head down Koen-dori street, make a right at Jinnan Icchome intersection and head to the Shibuya scramble, turn onto Meiji-dori avenue at Miyamasuzakashita and take that straight up to the Jingumae intersection where it will pass by Harajuku Station before heading back to Yoyogi Park.With this being the 11th such Pride Festival, Sugiyama is quick to reflect on how much has changed in Japan and how it has effected him personally.“These 10 years were a huge change for me, before I couldn’t see myself having children, living long or even having a purpose in life,” he says. “Now, I do.
And I’m optimistic on changing things for the next generation.”Speaking of the new generations, Youth Pride Japan aims to help young people share their experience with the goal of strengthening the community.“It is important to have a role model from a young age,” Sugiyama says. “For my generation, it was very difficult to find those.
