Tokyo Rainbow Pride!

Today I went to the first-ever Tokyo Rainbow Pride festival and parade. I found out from some the the Edo 8s that this wasn't actually the first-ever gay pride event, but it used to be held in August, and this year it got moved to Golden Week and renamed. So it is the first...but only in a literal sort of way.

The festival was small, but fun. There were vendors and of course food stalls. I didn't try the Cat's Hand Bread but I did get a green tea bagel from them and it was pretty good.

The event mascot was Toby the Rainbow Flying Squirrel (name taken from 飛ぶ ("tobu" to fly) and "to be" as in, being what we were meant to be.

And of course, a variety of festively-dressed and over-dressed people...

Gloomy Bear was there!!!!

And of course....Pokemon!!!!

The parade itself was fun...we took up one lane of traffic and made a big loop through Shibuya and Harajuku, two of the biggest shopping districts in Tokyo. There were a couple of decked-out trucks and cars playing music, but mostly just people walking. Every time we'd come to a pedestrian bridge, I'd climb up, take a couple pictures, and then rejoin the group. There weren't really clubs or contingents, although there was one group of just women, and one group surrounded by people holding up "No photos or videos" signs.

It was a lot of fun. I had hoped to run into some people from Edo 8s but I didn't end up seeing any of them.