PINK DOT, 4th ROUND

More people than in the past - around 1500 - yesterday by Tenbusu Building, along Kokusai-dori, for the 4th edition of the annual event held by Pink Dot Okinawa, the local LGBT community. Many Japanese people and foreigners participated. 

Events in the event have been Naha's first municipally-recognized same sex couple certification by the city's mayor, the entry of major brand sponsors as JAL, and the presence of several celebrity guests. At the end a typical summer, sudden rain, to bless the pink community. Fun, as usual! See you next year, ciao!

PINKDOT, TERZO GIRO (BAGNATO)

Ieri, assieme al fedele Goya-san, ho vestito la camicia più rosa del suo guardaroba e siamo andati a fare atto di supporto alla causa ama/tromba-chi-vuoi-che-i-Giovanardi-del-mondo-sono-e-sempre-saranno-morti. La causa era quella della comunità LGBT, piccola ma in crescita in Giappone e nella remota Okinawa.

  

  

    

Pinkdot Okinawa, 3rd edition, TODAY - Too much rain, but still a lot of fun and a funky message to that part of the Okinawan world that still sees everything one-way only. Me and Goya-san wore the pinkiest shirts of the wardrobe to support the colorful situation along Kokusai-dori. We enjoyed a wet lottery (damn, I didn't win), a Pink Lady-style couple of performers in pure Seventies and wrote messages in Italian. ARIGATO GOZAIMASU Hideki-san and pink friends for organizing the event also this year, see you the next one!

  

Ieri la pioggia ha stracciato l’anima a tutti i presenti, inumidendo messe in piega, batterie delle Nikon e umore. Ciononostante il pueblo unido ha ballato e cantato. Soprattutto i Pink Legacy, duo ghei specializzato nell’imitazione delle mitiche Pink Lady, eroine non tossiche della disco-music più anni Settanta che c’era(no). Seguiti da Aburamamire, drag queen di un certo peso sociale.

 

Io e Gino, oltre a guardare non senza secondi e terzi pensieri la grande quantità di fica presente, abbiamo scritto messaggi italici su post-it, robe un po’ da parrucchiera tipo ‘Amore libero, lecca il gelato che ti piace di più’. C’è stata anche una pesca a estrazione, in palio un par di biglietti per le isole minori. Io non ho vinto una cippa, diobonio.

 

Quest’anno l’evento ha avuto anche la benedizione delle autorità della città. La sindachessa ha scritto un discorsetto per il dèpliant di Pink Dot – l’organizzazione rosata che ogni anno organizza l’evento in tutto il Giappone - e la Prefettura di Naha aveva un tavolo dove era possibile ottenere informazioni sulla sessualità a 369°. I ventagli li ha sponsorizzati il Palm Royal Naha Hotel, il più noto (se non unico) albergo gay-friendly della città.

 

Arrivederci al 2016, Pinkdot!

PINK DOT, 2ND ROUND

This afternoon, along Kokusai-dōri, has been held the 2^nd edition of the LGBT annual gathering, organized by the group Pink Dot Okinawa. At the bottom of Tenbusu Building, the event has been a joyful moment in a part of a country that hardly tolerate homosexuality. Probably Japan is one of the last countries in the world – after Russia and some African nations that still live in the Middle Age - to open his mind about this topic. The local LGBT community, however, is growing and willing to live like any other human being, free to love whoever they want.

As during the previous edition (http://unitalianoaokinawa.blogspot.jp/2013/07/pinkdot-il-rosa-e-emerso-pinkdot-rose.html), everybody wore some pink cloth. I’ve been lucky to have a ‘Think Pink’ shirt in my Hawaian shirts collection… This year a big difference, compared to the last edition, has been the presence of two gay couples officially married in the U.S.A. and in Canada. They brought their special experience, as something really unseen before in Okinawa. A couple has been together for 27 years – a record even for a ‘straight’ couple -, another brought the witness of an Okinawan husband/wife married to an American wife/husband. They went through an unusual ceremony along Kokusai-dōri, a road that mostly sees tourists hunting for food and souvenirs. They signed a marriage book, exchanging pink scarfs and some kisses. The throw of the bouquets made happy two couples, a lesbian one and a gay one.

A final, group photo taken by the last floor of the gay-friendly Hotel Palm Royal, nearby, closed the happy and peaceful event. Many Okinawans, today, learnt something new about life.