Overview
- Rui Takahashi posted a social-media statement and a black-and-white photo saying he is gay and that he had long been “afraid to face a certain side” of himself.
- The 26-year-old plays for Suntory Sunbirds Osaka in Japan’s top professional volleyball division, the SV. League.
- Takahashi wrote that conversations with his younger brother, Ran Takahashi, were the decisive trigger that allowed him to accept his sexuality.
- He said he hoped his coming out would help others who struggle with their sexual identity and that speaking openly helped him organize his thoughts and feel accepted.
- Openly LGBTQ+ professional athletes remain rare in Japan, and Takahashi joins a small group of recent public figures whose disclosures have slowly increased visibility within Japanese sport.