First Pride in Okinawa, Japan, draws large crowd

'It's a big breakthrough and historical first step,' organizers say

The first Pride celebration in Okinawa, Japan, attracted a surprising crowd of 800 people this week.

Okinawa is a small island in the south of the Japanese island chain.

“We’re very happy to announce we could have our first Pink Dot Okinawa successfully with 800 people. Comparing Pride events in other big cities, it’s by far smaller, but for us in Okinawa we can say it’s a big breakthrough and historical first step,” Pink Dot Okinawa posted on its Facebook page.

Pink Dot celebrations started in Singapore in 2009, when hundreds of pink-wearing people crowded together to make an enormous pink dot in a city park.

Pink Dots have since been performed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, England and the United States.

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

Read More About:
Culture, News, Toronto, Canada, Vancouver, Pride, Ottawa

Keep Reading

Countess Luann holding a microphone

Countess Luann on cabaret superstardom, Kenya Moore and life after ‘The Real Housewives’

“Elegance is learned, my friends,” and the Countess’s class is in session
Sam Star with an up arrow behind her; Onya Nurve with a down arrow behind her

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 17, Episode 13 power ranking: A frozen final five

No one goes home this week, with one in-season competition episode remaining
Jewels Sparkles in the middle of a jump split.

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 17, Episode 13 recap: Parental control

Moms and dads visit the werk room for this season’s makeover challenge
Lucy Dacus in front of numerous paintings.

The new Lucy Dacus album is just fine. Where does Sapphic folk go from here?

Forever Is a Feeling relies heavily on Dacus’s relationship with Julien Baker for inspiration. The resulting record is disappointingly safe