Yamaha Awarded PRIDE Index Gold Rating for Seventh Consecutive Year

- Employee-led community “Yamaha Rainbow ERG” kicks off -

Hamamatsu, Japan ― Yamaha Corporation announces that it has been awarded a Gold rating by the PRIDE Index^*1 2025, making this the seventh consecutive year it has received the highest-possible rating. Established by Japanese nonprofit group “work with Pride”, the PRIDE Index evaluates efforts by companies and other organizations to support sexual and gender minorities, such as members of the LGBTQ+^*2 community.

“The Yamaha Group views human diversity as a source of new value creation. By ensuring fairness, respecting individuality, and leveraging unique strengths, we aim to achieve growth and development through enhanced corporate competitiveness and realize a sustainable society. We will continue to promote DE&I, including fostering understanding of LGBTQ+ issues, and strive to cultivate a workplace culture that empowers every diverse individual to contribute their unique strengths.” said Taro Tokuhiro, Executive Officer, Executive General Manager of Operations.

The Yamaha Group is promoting understanding of and offering support for members of the LGBTQ+ community as an ally in Japan in order to build a better place to work for LGBTQ+ individuals and other sexual and gender minorities and ensure that our business activities respect diversity. Specific initiatives include the following.

For the third consecutive year, Yamaha hosted a booth at Tokyo Pride 2025, held in June at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Under the slogan "Sound and Music is for everyone," specially designed instruments decorated in rainbow colors were displayed and played by many visitors. During Pride Month in June, Yamaha also held a related campaign at “Yamaha Sound Crossing Shibuya.”

In 2025, employees launched “Yamaha Rainbow ERG”, an internal community for LGBTQ+ employees and allies, leveraging the Employee Resource Group (ERG^*3) system introduced in 2024. Members of this group took the lead in planning Yamaha’s “Tokyo Pride 2025” booth, with 13 organizers and 18 additional volunteer employees helping operate the booth on the event day.

To deepen employee understanding of LGBTQ+, Yamaha holds company-wide seminars and training sessions, has established an LGBTQ+ logo, distributes ally stickers for employees who wish to show their support, and provides educational materials to promote understanding in the workplace. In 2025, Pride Month was extended from one month to three months, and Pride Month traveling exhibitions were held in four locations across three sites in Japan. The exhibit showcased materials from “Tokyo Pride 2025” and LGBTQ+-related books, while logo stickers were distributed to encourage awareness.

Yamaha operates an LGBTQ+ consultation service to ensure employees can easily seek advice in a safe and supportive environment. Yamaha has also revised its internal systems so that the definition of “family” includes same-sex partners and their children, creating a workplace environment where all employees can feel secure, both personally and professionally.

1. *1 LGBTQ+ functions as an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities. The initials stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning or queer, and the “plus” represents other sexual and gender identities.
2. *2 Established in 2016 by “work with Pride,” a Japanese nonprofit group whose aim is to promote and help universalize diversity and inclusion related to sexual and gender minorities, the PRIDE Index is Japan's first index to evaluate efforts by companies and other organizations in supporting members of the LGBTQ+ community. They are scored on five indices and certified as “Gold,” “Silver,” or “Bronze.”
3. *3 ERG: A group formed by Yamaha employees and employees of Yamaha group companies, who voluntarily come together to engage in activities based on social objectives recognized by the company, and established with the company’s approval. It aims to contribute to the creation of a better organizational culture and society through employees’ proactive activities, to support the company’s sustainable growth and the enhancement of its medium- to long-term corporate value, and to increase the motivation and job satisfaction of participating employees.

Learn more about Yamaha Group Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion:
https://www.yamaha.com/en/sustainability/social/diversity/