Ambassador Caroline Kennedy joins thousands at Tokyo Rainbow Pride

The 2016 Tokyo Rainbow Pride (TRP) march was held on May 8th and with other events all weekend long celebrating sexual minorities.

On the Sunday some 5,000 LGBT people and supporters walked between Harajuku and Shibuya, accompanied by 18 floats — the most ever in the history of TRP. The event was centered on Yoyogi Park in Shibuya ward, which has established itself as a gay-friendly neighborhood after it became the first government in Japan to offer some sort of legal recognition of same-sex couples.

The revellers were joined by Caroline Kennedy, US ambassador to Japan, along with British Ambassador Tim Hitchens and Irish Ambassador Anne Barrington. All these countries have now made same-sex marriage legal and the ambassadors were there to show their support for such a change in Japan.

While much progress in recognizing sexual minorities seems to have been made in recent years, LGBT students still face “epidemic-level” bullying at Japanese schools, according to Human Rights Watch. HRW’s report blamed the government turning a blind eye. Clearly much still needs to be done, though the increase in bullying could also be caused by the increase in youngsters now feeling confident enough to come out at an earlier age.

Historically, Japan has a rich LGBT past, one which is not filled with the same kind of discrimination that Christian countries have traditionally perpetuated. Nevertheless, LGBT identity remains discreetly tucked away in districts like Shinjuku’s Nichome, rather than fully embraced in the mainstream of culture and society. Almost no celebrities or politicians are openly gay.

We are at a crossroads. It has been described as Japan’s LGBT tipping point. TRP has grown immensely in its five years and is now even given official nods by the likes of a hardline conservative politician like Tomomi Inada, who attended this year.

What is next for the LGBT movement?