the center: Mr.Takashima, Mayor of Fukuoka City

Kyushu Rainbow Pride 2017 took place on November 5th in Reisen Park, Fukuoka City, attracting as many as seven thousand participants. The venue was filled with excitement.

In Reisen Park, the participants were enjoying booths run by Consulate of the United States in Fukuoka and many local companies such as Rainbow Soup and haco. Even big companies such as JAL and Hakata Marui were running booths. There were also some booths for children this year.

Around the stage area, local drag queens, Bourbonne, Shimoji Masaaki, Kiyotaka, and members of Nijigumi Fight were entertaining their fans.
The pride march started at 2.p.m. Bourbonne, one of the most well-known drag queens in Japan, came up to G-pit networks’s float and entertained the participants. This year’s pride march was a great success.
This year, as many as five hundred participants joined the pride march. The total number of the participants was approximately seven thousand. Many students, children and international visitors joined the rainbow pride. (Nobue, Kyushu Rainbow Parade Representative, had given out the flyers to local schools. “For all the children in the future” was this year’s slogan.)

The moment that surprised everyone the most was when Mayor of Fukuoka City came to the reception party and announced that he had decided to add rainbow colors on the city’s official logo and attach website links to the official website of Kyushu Rainbow Pride. It happened just a day before the rainbow pride and everyone applauded loudly with joy and surprise.
It is not common in Japan that people like a mayor come to pride events. The fact that Mayor of Fukuoka City came to the reception party was something that proved the city was truly moving sexual diversity forward.

06/11/2017