Today marks ten years since Shibuya and Setagaya became Japan's first two municipalities recognizing the relationships of LGBTQ+ couples with local policies that would end up contributing to nationwide change.
My latest for @TokyoReview:
One day this will all fall apart. Emoji designs will change and the below tweet will no longer look like a heart on most devices rendering it.
But right now, in this moment, the rainbow, dango, magic wand, boomerang, pencil, carrot, umbrella and crayon form a heart for us 🫶
yesterday I met a Japanese exchange student who told me she had met a Dutch student who studied at Waseda during last year's Tokyo Trans March. Unfortunately she forgot the person's name.
She shows me a selfie she took with the person.
IT'S LITERALLY ME. I WAS THE DUTCH STUDENT
Drummer Misaki Yoshikawa of the band Shishamo announces she has registered her relationship with a woman she's been dating for sometime.
She writes "If, eventually, the day comes when we can get married, I'll be even happier!"
Peculiar, the way British "journalists" know how they/them pronouns work, the moment they're writing about a trans person who goes by he/him or she/her.
This goes for both the fictional sport from the Harry Potter series, and the real-life sport that changed its name to Quadball in 2022 to distance itself from JKR, btw.
Haru Nemuri, a Japanese singer and songwriter:
“If you're genuinely worried about Japan's declining birth rate, I think you should probably write songs that go "please lower taxes" or "make tuition free" instead of "make sure to love one another".”