Musuta Kusaka's Everyday Journey with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Japan

This year’s Rainbow Pride was beyond my imagination. My family and I went to Rainbow Pride 2023, held in Yoyogi, Shibuya on Sunday, April 23, 2023. Since it was the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a lot more exciting than last year. There were too many people and too much information. It was a great outing for both parents and children.

The whole town is rainbow, no, seven colors.

When I got off at Shibuya Station, there were already a lot of people there who were going to participate in Rainbow Pride. At this point, it felt like a festival. It was exciting. It was exciting.

And this is PARCO. It is located overlooking the parade course.

Not only did they hang rainbow banners, but the PARCO logo was also in rainbow colors. How cool.

This is wall art from PARCO, which also has LOEWE.

It says “I ♡ NIRVANA” in small letters.

The Disney Store was filled with excitement right from the entrance. As I was looking at the items intently, a store clerk came over to me and started talking to me.

“Are you going to participate in the parade? We will also bring this to support the parade when it comes,” she said with a smile. She was a nice young woman. Her smile made me think that the future of this country is not so bleak after all.

Let’s wave. There will surely be someone who waves back. The parade continues.

The main attraction for us was the parade. It was incredibly long. It never stopped. The participants in the parade and the people along the route were all smiling and waving to each other.

The floats are also very flashy.

The parade was long, so it ran through at a pretty fast pace. While I was wondering which group it was, it passed right in front of me.

Of course, the parade will also pass by at the same speed.

I really wanted to explain each organization to my daughter, but I didn’t have the time.

That’s true. Each organization has a mission and activities that can’t be fully explained. Parents and children couldn’t have leisurely conversations while walking.

Drag queen Esmeralda. I feel like I got a great experience seeing her. Thank you.

Speaking of gratitude, Buddhist monks also participated in the parade. It was awesome.

Anyway, it was a dizzying parade, parade, parade. Even in such a hectic time, we did not neglect to wave our hands as much as we could. Towards the parade that was like a flood of diversity. My daughter was also waving her hands. The participants looked back at us, with perfect smiles.

Let’s wave. There will surely be someone who waves back.
If you say something positive, you will hear a positive response. It’s a bright, fun, and vivid way to encourage others to use their imagination and think about society.
It’s great that my 6-year-old daughter was able to experience that. Why Pride? Why a parade? Behind it lies a history of many sufferings and struggles that continue to this day. I hope that by the time my daughter is able to understand it in the future, it will be “long past time.” I hope so.

That being said, the overseas competitors were also impressive this year.

This was a scene that could only be seen after the COVID-19 pandemic. About half of the conversations I heard on the streets were in foreign languages. I’m not exaggerating when I say this.

The whole festival venue was like a packed train. I couldn’t even get to the booth.

I headed towards the festival site, going against the flow as I watched the parade. It took a while to get there. Or rather, I just couldn’t move forward.

The road to the main gate was overflowing with people.
Everyone was waving flags, taking pictures, stopping by booths, drinking beer. It was so free and fun.

Finally we arrived. This is the main gate.

Because it was inflated with air, it would sometimes break or look like it was about to fall over. But each time, it would hold on just in time and stand up again. This somehow overlaps with the attitude of this event and the history of sexual minorities. The participants cheered and got excited every time. As if to encourage and congratulate themselves for standing up.

Once you pass through the gate, it becomes even more crowded, or rather, extremely busy.

There were booths from various organizations and schools. It seems that there were live performances on stage at certain times, but it was not a situation where I could go and see them.

I couldn’t even get to the stage. I couldn’t even look around the booths. There were traffic jams and lines everywhere. It was really hard to move around with kids.

I wanted to show my daughter a live performance of Yahobumijin. I’m so disappointed. I’ve decided to come next year with the aim of seeing a live performance.

There were booths from well-known large companies. Active efforts towards diversity are now something of a general education for companies.

To escape the oxygen deprivation, I took refuge on an overpass. Looking down at the venue, this is what it looked like. It was like this 360 degrees around. “This is no good. There’s no way I can walk,” I thought, and left the venue with my tail between my legs.

This event. If you’re only going to see the parade, you definitely won’t be able to get around to the festival. But there are so many people you can only meet, hear, and see at the festival. I think that’s the point.

If you have the chance to participate next year, be careful. My family regrets it. Again next year. A year is so long.

“Someone who made an impression on me,” said my 6-year-old daughter.

On the way from the venue to the station, I talked with my daughter about various things. There are men who like other men, and women who like other women. There are more than just two types of people. There must be at least three in each class. There are many people who can’t marry the person they love. When I asked her, “What do you think?”, she started talking about her friends. Even though she is young, she is loved by girls regardless of grade.
It seems that this is well-known among the teachers.
There is also a boy among her friends who can relate to this. “That’s why I said it. I thought T-kun should wear a wedding dress too.” “What did T-kun say?” “Hehehehe,”
my daughter said as if it were a matter of course. I hope she will grow up to be a matter of course. By the way, there is also a pattern where both of them wear tuxedos.

“By the way, what was the most memorable thing that happened to you today?” “The man with the money.”

Yes, this is the “gold man.”

What an impact! It took away all my daughter’s memories of the day. Sparkling and shiny.

That’s right. There were people I could only meet here.
But next year, I think I’ll plan my schedule around going to festivals.