■Hideki Sunagawa
Born in 1966. In 1990, Sunagawa became involved with grassroots HIV/AIDS organizations and started to work with the NPO PTokyo in 1994. In 2000, he joined the steering committee for the Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Parade. Currently, with a background in cultural anthropology, Sunagawa works as an adjunct instructor teaching Gender Theory at a women's university.

Part of what originally inspired NHK's program was the publication of the (Japanese) book, Coming Out Letters, edited by Sunagawa and Ryoji. The book shares not only the letters written by gays and lesbians articulating their own coming out to parents and teachers, but it also includes written replies that they received as well. Sunagawa says that the response to his book has been extremely positive and that gay and straight people alike have written him to share their thoughts on its material. He explains, "Generally straight readers write to tell me that, by reading the book, they realized for the first time what social environment gays and lesbians are dealing with and, as a result of their awareness, they have developed interest in the issues. In addition, individuals who have struggled with dropping out of school, or second-class status as ethnically Korean-Japanese, write to say that they feel a link between queer issues and their own."

When asked about his thoughts on taking part in a TV program for NHK, Sunagawa adds, "This is just the first installment for Haato O Tsunago on gays and lesbians, and I do hope that they decide to follow with another. After all, it's very hard to convey a lot of information in its very limited time - about an hour."

★Sunagawa's Message to Viewers
I want to let everyone know that, when topics like this are first brought up, all the focus tends to end up on problems and issues - but there is so much more to our lives than just that. Conversation tends to revolve around, "How sad, how tough, and how bleak" (laughs) things can be, but really I want everyone to keep in mind that so much exists beyond that as well.

Next, in TW's Coming Out Letters: Parts 2 & 3, we will interview Sunakawa and hear more about his reasons for publishing the book, as well as his own experiences coming out.

translated by rayna