Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016 musings
a long and rather pointless post in which i write out some of my thoughts and experiences along with photos from last weekend’s Pride in Tokyo. this post is photo heavy. for more photos from TRP, see these posts: ☆ ace & nonbinary photos ☆ general photos warning: slurs, scantly clad men and mention of genitalia. this year i went to TRP on both Saturday and Sunday for the first time. while i’m glad i did, i’m really kicking myself in regards to how i did it. i ended up being ridiculously exhausted both days before i’d even boarded the train to Tokyo all because i called myself saving money by not booking myself and Yuki (my hedgehog) into a hotel so that i could spend the night in Tokyo. the result was 5 hrs/day of riding trains two days in a row. i’m still not recovered and this entire post is…
Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016: Asexual & Trans / Non-binary Awesomeness!
this year was the third consecutive year that myself and aces in the group that i somehow inadvertently and haphazardly manage walked in the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade and it was the best year yet! among the many awesome things that happened includes running into two of my Japanese ace Twitter friends who also walked in the parade this year and who were apparently so inspired by our signs last year that they made signs just like them! also, thanks again to Nijiiro Komachi’s awesomeness, it was so much easier to show one’s ace (and non-binary, etc) pride! which in turn not only helped raise awareness about asexuality (and gender diversity), it helped increase visibility and made it easier for aces and non-binary people to find each other! during the parade, i was even able to spot a few onlookers who had ace flags. after the parade, the most awesome…
Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016 (5/8/2016)
…somehow even though this year i went on both Saturday (5/7) & Sunday (5/8), i ended up with fewer (share-worthy) shots than last year because i was so busy doing stuff with people… also had to edit these photos mostly on my phone because i’m still in need of a new laptop. sigh! [/whining] anyway, Tokyo Rainbow Pride itself was better than ever this year, i think. a more asexual (/non-binary!) specific photoset and a (long) write-up about my TRP shenanigans will be posted shortly….
Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016 selfies
Twitter selfies taken before heading out the door on Saturday (5/7) & Sunday (5/8). wearing recycled shirts from previous Prides along with some of my newly acquired flags. sucks that i only really get to sport this stuff once a year, but oh well. actual non-binary (maverique) pan / bi asexual pride is year-round. 🙂
お疲れ！
…and with that, Tokyo Rainbow Pride has come and gone once again. to everyone who came out and i was able to meet (the majority of whom don’t even use Tumblr and will never see this, but whatever) お疲れ！ it was great seeing you! the past two days have seriously gone by in a whirlwind. so much happened, met so many people, got so little sleep, took way too may photos. perhaps most importantly, this year was the third year that i, along with other aces, went to TRP & walked in the parade and i think this year was definitely the best yet! we even had a really great meetup afterwards. 🙂 i really want to hibernate for a few days to recover from the awesomeness, but alas i have to drag my ass to work and get mauled by kids tomorrow. and for days after that. ugh. lots…
…so this happened at TRP today.
Nijiiro Komachi kicking ass again, handmaking flags on the spot to meet demand in their booth– GAH! why are you so amazing, Nijiiro Komachi?!?! i might as well be throwing money at you. ugh, 明日はホンマに大変になってしまったね。 tomorrow’s parade is going to be crazy. hopefully in a good way.
DIY ace flag, anyone?
…annnd it’s finished! it’s not perfect, but whatever. it’ll do. tomorrow is the start of Tokyo Rainbow Pride and thanks to this flag, there’ll be even more ace visibility in the parade this year. 🙂 the flag was made using the fabric that i found at Yokohama Pride last year and i still have enough leftover to make two more flags if i wanted to. the long-since-retired ‘born this way’ flag that i got at Las Vegas Pride years ago was only used to check proportions. next year’s mission: find or make a non-binary flag because apparently flag manufactures do not know or care that the non-binary flag is not the same as the genderqueer flag and i want a non-binary flag goddamnit.
Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2015 (4/26/15)
my ace friends and i had a great time again this year at TRP! photo notes: the black & white photo is from the “OUT IN JAPAN” photo exhibition by Leslie Kee inside Harajuku GAP, which was also running a #rainbowgap photo booth campaign. the writing on the trans flag says 「色んな性の在り方を認め合おう！」/ “Let’s acknowledge the existence of various sexes/genders!” (in Japanese the same word is used to refer to both sex & gender) the meerkat, its human and its friend on the human’s shoulder deserve to be included for showing up to both last year’s and this year’s TRP in style. and yes, meerkats, among numerous other wild animals, are imported and sold as pets in Japan. i hope you are as outraged about that as i am, even if this meerkat is cute. ;(
#TRP2015 準備完了
just about ready for Tokyo Rainbow Pride tomorrow! last year i wore my ace pride shirt, but this time around it’s time for some non-binary / Xジェンダー pride and visibility! thankfully the shirt i made arrived just in time. 🙂 i’ll still be hanging out with my ace friends helping with asexual awareness & visibility, but my gender is just as important as my sexuality. in case you’re wondering, Xジェンダー / X-gender is the Japanese equivalent of genderqueer and/or non-binary in English.
frustrations re:Aセクシャル (asexual in Japanese)
so i’ve been halfassedly thinking about making an ace pride sign for the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade, but i’m torn because discussing asexuality in Japanese seems really difficult… of course the language barrier plays a part in that, but it’s not even just that.
