Culture

Wife of Japanese PM participates in Tokyo Pride parade

Hundreds take to streets as part of Rainbow Week

By Natasha Barsotti • April 28, 2014 5:09 pm EDT

Akie Abe, left, the wife of the prime minister of Japan, joined hundreds of revellers who took to the streets April 27 for Tokyo’s annual Pride parade. Credit: facebook.com

Thousands of revellers took to the streets of Tokyo April 27 to participate in its annual pride parade. jiji.com

The wife of the conservative prime minister of Japan joined hundreds of revellers who took to the streets April 27 for Tokyo’s annual Pride parade that is part of a Rainbow Week, which runs until May 6, Pink News reports.

On Facebook ,where she posted a number of parade photos, Akie Abe says she wants to “help build a society where anyone can conduct happy, enriched lives without facing discrimination.” Abe, who has been given the moniker “domestic opposition party,” is known for her outspokenness, opposing nuclear power, which her husband supports, and embracing Korean culture, for which she has been criticized. Last year, she joined a commission formed by UNAIDS and the medical journal Lancet.

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Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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