First Pride in Okinawa, Japan, draws large crowd

'It's a big breakthrough and historical first step,' organizers say

The first Pride celebration in Okinawa, Japan, attracted a surprising crowd of 800 people this week.

Okinawa is a small island in the south of the Japanese island chain.

“We’re very happy to announce we could have our first Pink Dot Okinawa successfully with 800 people. Comparing Pride events in other big cities, it’s by far smaller, but for us in Okinawa we can say it’s a big breakthrough and historical first step,” Pink Dot Okinawa posted on its Facebook page.

Pink Dot celebrations started in Singapore in 2009, when hundreds of pink-wearing people crowded together to make an enormous pink dot in a city park.

Pink Dots have since been performed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, England and the United States.

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

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Culture, News, Toronto, Canada, Vancouver, Pride, Ottawa

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