The Japan Times reports:
Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people paraded through Tokyo’s Shibuya district on Sunday to express hope that Japan will further embrace gender equality and diversity. The LGBT parade was the finale to the annual Tokyo Rainbow Pride festival, and this year’s theme was “Change.”
“I believed that nothing would change. But, little by little, things are starting to change,” the event’s flyers say, quoting an unnamed individual. “Let’s achieve a future where everyone is respected as an individual, despite differences in sexuality.”
This year, Tokyo Rainbow Pride was sponsored by a record 190 companies and organizations, including big names like NTT Corp., Sony Corp. and Google Inc., as well as fast-growing media company BuzzFeed and music streamer Spotify. On the event’s official website, local government leaders left congratulatory messages, including Shibuya Ward Mayor Ken Hasebe and Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto.