So earlier this month, Tokyo had a big week for sexual minorities, or as we call, LGBT or LGBTQ.
“RAINBOW WEEK”
It was held through the golden week, which was from April 29th through May 8th.
Many companies, local stores, and even celebrities participated in this event, and it was fantastic.
The first pride parade was held in New York, in 1969.
Now, it is held all around the world, and Japan has had it for more than 20 years.
This event is meant for a lot of things. By having this kind of event, we can have people know and understand that sexual minority people actually exist, and are living like others do.
I personally went to this event for the first time this month, and was astonished by the fact many companies and people had interest in the sexual minority community. Especially, for many foreign people. I thought it was very important for more Japanese people to participate or even have a slight interest in this event.
Below are some comments from our seminar:
AKIRA
東京レインボープライド2016にいってきました！
アメリカでは40年でLGBTが国に浸透したそうです。しかし日本では40年以上かかるのではないかと思っています。というのも多様性を受け入れづらく、出る杭を打つというのは島国である日本の古来の文化とも言えるからですし、違法ではないというだけで、世間がLGBTを受け入れているかといえば決してそうではないからです。
実際にLGBTの人々を拒む企業はまだ多く存在します。加えて、拒んではいないものの、職場の人の理解があるかどうか不明瞭であるという点はLGBTの人々がLGBTであることを隠してしまう大きな要因なひとつなんだと今回レインボープライドへ行き、感じました。しかしそのような要因を学べたと同時に、いわゆるストレートのひとが多く興味関心をもってこのイベントに参加しているという事実を知り、たくさんの希望と可能性も感じることができ、いい経験になりました。そしてこの経験を知識で終わらすことなく多様性を認められる日本へ向けて生かしていきたいです。
SHIMO
日常生活の中で自分のセクシャリティをオープンにしづらい社会だけれど、レインボプライドの会場ではストレートの人も当事者の人も当たり前のように存在していて、実は社会の中では多くの企業や団体、そして個人個人がLGBTに対して前向きに捉えてくれているということを肌で感じることができ、日本では普段なかなか感じられることのない前向きさを直に感じられる素晴らしいイベントだと思った。
実際に、GoogleやIBMのような大手の企業が自分たちの会社の技術を生かしたブースを展開し、アンケートを実施した情報量を得ていたが、大手企業にバックアップしてもらうことでの知名度の向上やそもそもの安堵感や期待、そして企業側は実際に生の会場で情報を得ることが出来るメリットがあり、双方にとってwinwin な関係が築けていると感じた。
写真を撮るコーナーや、食べ物がもらえたり、会場ではダンスなどを披露していたり、本当にフラッと立ち寄った人もエンジョイできるイベントだと思う。
KANA.S
このレインボープライドパレードは年々参加者が増えているということから、LGBT業界に対する世の中からの関心はすごく大きなものになっていると考えられる
でもLGBTは今も昔も変わらず存在していたはずなのに近年になってなぜ、こんなに関心を持たれるようになったのだろうと考えた結果、その「影響力」が各業界から認められたからだと思う
つまりはお金になる、ということである
それが、LGBTをサポートする会社などが増えてきている一番のきっかけなのではないかと思った
一見あまり良い聞こえではないかもしれないが、実際にパレードでは参加者が増えたり、出店してサポートする会社が増えたり、今までは批判的だった政治家が直接足を運んだり、などときっかけはお金や自らのメリットのためであっても確実に世間でのLGBTの見られ方が変わってきているという印象を受けた
AYAKA
I felt that there should be more events like the Tokyo rainbow pride parade so that we can raise awareness on LGBT’s. I thought the events that were held during the rainbow week were also effective for the Japanese population to get to know more about this topic. However, I feel that not a lot of people know that these events are being held to begin with. Even if people are interested in knowing more about LGBT’s, if they do not know of these events they wouldn’t even have the opportunity. Therefore, I felt that first it is important to spread that these events exist through means such as SNS, so that we can get more people to participate.
KANA.Y
I agree with ayaka
More events like the Tokyo rainbow pride parade will raise awareness and 認知度 of LGBTs.
I think that spreading these events and information will make it easier for LGBT people to spend time in society.
I also agree with Ayaka's opinion that these events should be more advertised through SNS and should make more people to come and join these events.
Having more people to join these LGBT events will increase awareness and might be able to make money, as Kana said.
KEN
1) I agree with Kana on the point that diversity acceptance on sexual orientation seems to be rising every year, even in Japan where in many ways as a country we are probably still behind the west. However, we the numbers and statistics from the event is promising; every year there seems to be an upwards trend in the participation of this event. This can be deduced from 2 factors; 1st, is the finances. This year set a record for 113万円, and furthermore the number of participants has set a record at over 70,000. This correlation suggests that lgbt acceptance and awareness is on the rise in Japan. If we were to look at the statistics of other events as well, I am sure that likewise the statistics will show an upwards trend
2) The big thing that I didn't quite understand is what the purpose of this event is. This is partially due to my limited Japanese, but even so I can tell that the event is supposed to raise "awareness" on LGBT. To be specific, there seems to be 2 sides to the event; the parade, and the "festa" which apparently is supposed to resemble small stages with performers etc...but when you really think about it, I really wonder if these types of events are the most efficient way in raising awareness at all. I think for LGBT acceptance to be more widespread there needs to be an utilization of the mass media. And by this I mean some kind of publicity that is not only entertaining, but also frequent and constant. I am not sure if you all watch "The Walking Dead" and it's sub-series "Fear the Walking Dead" but it is a huge television drama series in the United States right now. It is already into season 6, and is already classified as one of the greatest cable television series of all time. And this is relevant, because many of the main characters such as Aaron and Strand, are actually Gay in the series. I do not know the producers of the show very well, but I am sure that this was an intentional attempt in raising LGBT awareness. And perhaps this is what Japan really needs. The similar kind of publicity, not just from one-time annual events but a more consistent means of a reminder to the public, in raising LGBT awareness.
3) I am not trying to say that this event is futile or anything. These types of events are a good thing. But I also believe that the true purpose of these events should be "socialization". LGBT people still suffer social discrimination and so these events should be designed in such a way that it allows LGBT people to bond and form new friendships. I think incorporating a lot of activities people can do together is a good thing. Bowling night once a week on the weekends, or events on a smaller scale but a more frequent basis may offer LGBT people a more consistent means of relieving social pressure.
4) So if this annual event cannot be re-arranged in such a way that it allows people who attend a more interactive experience, perhaps it can be used to fund a new "club". This new club can then be accessible to LGBT people who participated in these fundraisers and offer social support. Considering the number of total people who attended the event I would honestly say that the donation figures are not all that impressive, so perhaps a change in marketing strategy is in order.
5) If it is not used to fund an NPO or a club of some sort then I wonder where the donations actually go to. Again my Japanese is not great so I didn't really understand that part.