Japanese volleyball player comes out as gay in rare case

Japanese volleyball player Rui Takahashi came out as gay on Tuesday, saying he wanted to help others struggling with their sexuality in a country where openly LGBTQ athletes are extremely rare.

The 26-year-old Takahashi, who plays in the top division of Japan's professional volleyball league, posted a statement on social media accompanied by a black-and-white photo of himself.

In it, he said he had been "afraid to face a certain side of myself" since he was young.

"I struggled with it and ended up denying who I was," he wrote.

"That is the fact that I am gay and that I am one of the sexual minorities."

Takahashi said his brother Ran, who is a hugely popular star with Japan's national volleyball team, helped him come to terms with his sexuality.

"Talking with Ran became the trigger that finally allowed me to accept myself for the first time," he wrote.

"By putting my feelings into words, I was able to sort out my thoughts, and little by little I started to feel that it was OK to be just the way I am."

Takahashi becomes one of a very small group of openly LGBTQ professional athletes in Japan.

Women's football player Shiho Shimoyamada was the first to come out as gay in 2019.

Kumi Yokoyama, who played for Japan at the Women's World Cup, later came out as a transgender man.

In June 2021, the Japanese Olympic Committee appointed transgender former fencer Fumino Suhiyama to its board of directors, just weeks before the Tokyo Olympics.

Takahashi said he hoped him coming out would help others in a similar situation.

"I would be happy if my decision to face myself and speak in my own words could, even in a small way, become a catalyst for them," he wrote.