EP 125: Marriage For All Japan With Guest Masa Yanagisawa

This week, Tiffany has invited a prominent LGBTQ+ advocate in Japan as a guest to discuss the amazing initiatives he is conducting to support marriage equality! 

Born and raised in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Masa San has a perfect place for Tokyoites to go to LGBTQ+ friendly ‘Hayama Beach House’ that celebrated their 10th anniversary! The conversation focuses on Masa San’s career, his TedTalk 10yrs ago and his experience when coming out in Japan. Such courage brought Masa San, on one hand, face struggles with those who could not accept him and on the other, getting to connect even more deeply with the people around him. 
Moreover, Masa San shares his advocacy to educate about the social, economical and cultural advantages for Japan to offer such rights. Masa San hopes for Japan to achieve marriage equality, legal protection like anti-discrimination for the LGBTQ+ community, and transgender transitions that does not require surgery. And finally, we are left with an inspiring message to not give up on one’s dreams, even in a society that might convince you otherwise. Let us celebrate the significant strides the LGBTQ+ community has achieved, to have more discussions, and keep supporting all for their right to love, to live and to be a family. 

Masa Yanagisawa has been driving LGBTQ+ inclusion both within a financial firm, as well as externally. He has secured LGBTQ+ events in Japan, including the Tokyo Pride Parade and 30th Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Movie Festival. In addition, he advocated for intersectionality and provided strategic advice on the firm's global self-identification campaign across diverse groups. He has worked with office network leads across eight APAC locations in key initiatives: Pride Month and Pink Friday, which engages internal and external workplaces to wear pink t-shirts to promote LGBTQ+ awareness. Masa is an active member of NGOs to promote LGBTQ+ rights, and published two articles in Nikkei Asia. 

You can find Masa San’s Ted Talk here: https://youtu.be/66N6AWznzCo 
Twitter: @masayanagisawa 

Mentioned in the episode:
HIMEYUKI Kimono Obi Accessories Instagram Link ~ https://www.instagram.com/himeyuuki_obi/
HIMEYUKI Official Website ~ https://himeyuki.net/en/collections/all

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