In 2014, the first Pride Parade in Tohoku began in Aomori City. In the beginning, only three people walked in front of the station, but every year the number of walkers doubled, and by the fourth year, 100 people from all over Japan had gathered to share the slogan, “I want to make my hometown a place I can return to. Last September, Shoko Usami, the founder of the parade, passed away from cancer. She and her partner Miho Okada were the first in Japan to officially register their marriage at city hall in 2014, appealing to society for the right to marry, but Shoko was unable to see her same-sex marriage realized. And so, on June 5 of this year, the Aomori Rainbow Parade was held on a sunny day, with people from all over Japan gathering to remember Shoko, and the governor of the prefecture offering his congratulations. It was a parade that gave us a sense of pride and courage to walk forward with our friends, even if our feet are in the mud.