Whatever your schedule looks like today, please, please find 20 minutes to watch Shinjiro Atae, a Japanese pop singer, demonstrate humanity in ways both raw and elegant.
“I feared that even if I could accept the truth that I am gay, the world would never accept me as an artist,” he said during his tearful speech in front of a captivated audience of over 2,000 attendees. “I’ve come to realize it is better, both for me, and for the people I care about, including my fans, to live life authentically than to live a life never accepting who I truly am.”
The pin-drop silence of the crowd underscores how rarely LGBTQ+ issues are openly spoken about in Japan. And Atae connects that fact — along with diminishing depictions of gay people in the media — to mental health struggles for millions of Japanese citizens.
As readers of this newsletter know, I wrote about my first trip to Japan last fall, detailing meetings with advertising leaders from Dentsu, Apple, TBWA, Wieden+Kennedy, Google, and Facebook. Central to these talks were how diversity crusades like 3% won’t translate easily to cultures like Japan, where social conformity is prized over individuality and order is prized over messiness.
This speech is exactly what change looks like.
A young man stating his truth, visibly nervous, uncertain if his fans will accept him as an artist. Despite not knowing if his future might end on that stage, he generously states “I don’t judge you for your judgment of me”, lists LGBTQ+ resources on his website, and releases his new song about coming out in English so that his message can reach more listeners. Atae’s bow at the end — a formal and respectful gesture — is a poignant punctuation to this historic speech.
Wow. Wow. Wow. And thanks.
Until next time, remember that culture is the new creativity.