Creating a world together where everyone can be themselves

Tokyo Pride 2025 was held on June 7th and 8th at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. This year’s theme of “Same Life, Same Rights” embodied the aim of creating a society in which everyone can “truly live as themselves, with joy and pride.” Tokyo Pride, the largest event of its kind in Asia, attracted 270,000 participants over two days.

The Yamaha Group aspires to foster a culture in which everyone can play an active role in the corporation while being themselves and creating a future where each individual across the world shines through the power of sound and music. This year’s display—conceived to inspire people to feel that Yamaha supports them—focused on allowing employees to experience firsthand and learn about various realities by coming into contact with a diverse range of perspectives, values, and backgrounds. The employees participated in the hope that they could use the new insights they gained and the emotions they experienced back at their workplaces, thereby creating an environment where diversity can flourish. Participating in Tokyo Pride was a key step in helping the Yamaha Group to expand its circle of support and encourage everyone to be their true self.

Yamaha’s internal initiatives for LGBTQ+ employees and allies

In 2019, Yamaha introduced a company-wide mandate to create a LGBTQ+-friendly environment and offer welfare support to its LGBTQ+ employees. Since then, it has held ongoing, internal training sessions and seminars to foster LGBTQ+ awareness among its employees. In 2024, Yamaha introduced the Employee Resource Group (ERG) system, with the Yamaha Rainbow ERG being established in 2025 as an internal community of LGBTQ+ employees and allies run by employees who are passionate about these issues. The 13 Yamaha Rainbow ERG members, who led the planning of the Tokyo Pride booth with the support of the Human Resources Division, oversaw operations on the day together with 18 employees enlisted from within the Yamaha Group.

Booth concept

Themed on the slogan “Sound and Music is for everyone,” the Yamaha booth was designed around the notion that even though everyone may be different, each of us is free to interact and become part of a vibrant symphony of life that is all-the-more beautiful because of those differences.
The booth featured specially designed a rainbow guitar, a finger drum pad, and other colorful instruments to allow people who have never played a musical instrument to freely experience the joy of sound and music, and take commemorative photos. Makoto Katsuura, a representative of Yamaha Rainbow ERG who was involved in the instruments’ design, said, “I approached the Design Laboratory with the idea of decorating white instruments in rainbow colors to express the individuality and freedom of musical instruments and music. The one-of-a-kind guitar was painted by hand, using a brush. I’m confident all our visitors enjoyed themselves.”

Visitors were also invited to write their thoughts on stickers and attach them to the white piano, transforming it into a rainbow piano. Some of the many comments included “Be yourself, you are wonderful as you are,” “Let’s make a society where everyone can smile,” “Be who you are and live with dignity,” “Enjoy our own colors,” and “Let it be a world where everyone can live as they want with pride.” One of the Yamaha employee volunteers commented, “When the visitors pasted their stickers to the piano it felt like our thoughts were being transferred to the instrument—it was a wonderful time. I was really moved by the way that people were drawn to the sounds of the piano and the guitar, and the sight of their faces lit up with emotions.”

Pride Month initiatives

In addition to the two-day Tokyo Pride 2025 event, Yamaha also held a campaign throughout the month of June at Yamaha Sound Crossing Shibuya with rainbow-colored café lattes and a display of the rainbow guitar and finger drum pad that were the centerpieces of Yamaha’s Tokyo Pride booth.
It turned out that some of the employee volunteers learnt about Yamaha’s LGBTQ+ policies and initiatives for the first time through the Tokyo Pride events. In view of this, the Tokyo Pride booth display will be exhibited within the company for a limited time from July to increase employees’ awareness of Yamaha’s LGBTQ+ policies and initiatives, and LGBTQ+ stickers will continue to be distributed for employees to show their support of LGBTQ+ people.

The future

While 2025 marks the third year that the Yamaha Group has exhibited at Tokyo Pride, this year saw a major change with LGBTQ+ employees and their allies taking the lead in the planning and operations of the booth. Yamaha Rainbow ERG leader Hirokazu Matsumoto said, “We have only just started activities as an ERG, and we hope to use the Tokyo Pride booth this year as a springboard for organizing activities that help create a place where everyone can feel at ease.” The Human Resources Division was also enthusiastic: “We will continue working with Yamaha Rainbow ERG on LGBTQ+ initiatives, and further promote diversity, equity and inclusion to create a workplace where everyone can work cheerfully in a manner that is true to themselves.”
Yamaha endeavors to view diversity as a source of value creation. The company will continue supporting the LGBTQ+ community and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion around the world to realize a society and workplace where everyone can shine as they are.