Tokyo Rainbow Pride Rebrands Annual LGBTQ+ Event as “Tokyo Pride 2025 as it moves to June 2025 to celebrate Global Pride Month.
With the theme “Same Life, Same Rights,” Tokyo Pride 2025 will feature diverse events to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues and champion human rights.
Tokyo, Japan – The non-profit organization Tokyo Rainbow Pride (TRP), based in Shinjuku and co-chaired by Natsumi Yamada and Yuko Sato, has announced a major update to its flagship LGBTQ+ event. Starting in 2025, the event formally known as “Tokyo Rainbow Pride” will be rebranded as “Tokyo Pride” and aligned with global Pride Month celebrations in June.
This decision follows the 30th anniversary of Pride in Japan (*1), marking a milestone that inspired TRP to reimagine the event’s name, format, and timing. The newly branded “Tokyo Pride” aims to amplify its mission of raising awareness of LGBTQ+ issues and advocating for human rights with several events throughout June.
The Tokyo Pride Parade and Festival, previously held in April, will take place on June 7 (Saturday) and June 8 (Sunday), 2025 at the same location, Yoyogi Park.
◾️Tokyo Pride 2025: Background and Purpose
Since its establishment in 2012, TRP has organized “Tokyo Rainbow Pride” in Yoyogi Park, creating a vibrant space for celebrating gender and other diversity while fostering connections among LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies. The event has grown exponentially, starting with 4,500 participants in 2012 and reaching an incredible 270,000 attendees in April 2024.
Over the years, Tokyo Rainbow Pride has garnered widespread support from LGBTQ+ individuals, community organizations, domestic and international companies, government agencies, politicians, foreign embassies in Japan, media outlets, artists, and citizen groups. This collective effort has significantly advanced visibility, recognition, and societal awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in Japan.
However, despite this progress, many LGBTQ+ individuals still face persistent challenges and discrimination. Recognizing the urgency of addressing these issues, Tokyo Pride 2025 will prioritize legal reform, human rights, and equity themes. It will expand its focus to encompass sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and intersectional (*3) challenges, ensuring a more inclusive and diverse approach.
In alignment with its new direction, the event’s name has been updated to reflect its broad scope, enhancing accessibility for a larger and more diverse audience both domestically and internationally. However, it is important to note that the organizing body, Tokyo Rainbow Pride, will retain its current name.
◾️Tokyo Pride 2025 Events Details
◾️Tokyo Pride 2025 Event Contents
Tokyo Pride 2025 will feature a diverse lineup of LGBTQ+-focused events and content throughout Pride Month in June. Alongside the Pride Parade and Festival at Yoyogi Park, the program will include events tailored to younger generations, art exhibitions, a Human Rights Conference addressing human rights issues, and educational YouTube programs. These initiatives aim to deepen understanding of LGBTQ+ challenges and culture while fostering concrete solutions for specific issues.
◾️Tokyo Pride 2025 Theme & Statement
Same Life, Same Rights
From the moment we’re born until the end of our lives, we all have the right to make our own choices.
Yet, simply because we are LGBTQ+, or perhaps because of our gender, race, ethnicity, religion, birth, disability, or economic background, etc., many of us are denied the freedom to live authentically and denied the same life choices as others.
The right to be ourselves at school or work,
to be in love or not to be in love,
to find a home,
to be healthy,
to marry or not to marry,
to start a family —
Regardless of differences, we should be granted the same rights to life with dignity, authenticity, and equality.
To secure these rights, we need legal reforms.
Until we dismantle structural discrimination and prejudice and create a society that protects equal rights for everyone, we will continue to demand:
Same Life, Same Rights
The theme of Tokyo Pride 2025, “Same Life, Same Rights,” underscores the principle that everyone, including LGBTQ+ individuals, deserve to live equally and fairly. The event strives to inspire a society where all people can live authentically, joyfully, and proudly, free from limitations on their right to follow their own path in life. Through Tokyo Pride 2025, we aim to champion diversity, promote mutual respect, and contribute to building an equitable and inclusive society.
Footnotes
(*1) The first Pride Parade in Japan was held in August 1994. However, due to social and operational challenges at the time, the event was not held in certain years. In May 2011, the voluntary organization “Tokyo Rainbow Pride” (now NPO Tokyo Rainbow Pride) was established to ensure the continuity of Pride events. Since then, Pride these events have been held annually.
(*2) In June 1969, the Stonewall Riots in New York marked a pivotal moment of resistance for sexual minorities, laying the foundation for June to be recognized as Pride Month – a time to promote awareness of LGBTQ+ rights globally.
(*3) Intersectionality describes how different systems of social discrimination and privilege—such as race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, generation, and ability—interact and overlap, creating unique and compounded forms of oppression.
