Photo/Illutration Airi Murakami (Photo by Shinichi Chubachi)

A top female rugby player, who has earned a cap on the national team, has made it publicly known that she has a same-sex partner.

“There was a time when I kept my sexual orientation to myself,” said Airi Murakami, who plays for the Yokogawa Musashino Artemi-Stars. “But after I met with people who embrace me for who I am, I came to want to behave as my true self and have others know me for who I am.

“I hope to be a catalyst, the next time around, for other troubled athletes, female or male.”

In Japan, it is rare for an active athlete on a national team or playing at a comparable level to come out as being LGBT.

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Members of the Japanese women’s national rugby team at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo in 2016 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Murakami, 31, started playing basketball when she attended Kyoei Gakuen High School in Tokyo. She played for Akita Bank in the East Japan regional basketball league for three years.

She turned to rugby in 2015 after she passed the Japan Rugby Football Union’s tryouts for athletes who wanted to transfer to the women’s sevens.

In 2019, she played in one of the games during an Australia tour of Japan’s national team for the women’s 15s.

Murakami used to date a female teammate when she was a second-year high school student. Her fellow club members bullied her. Murakami’s mother also became involved in the row. 

“I was called out alone and surrounded by 11 club members,” Murakami said. “I was told things like, ‘You are so creepy’ and ‘I want to leave the club because I don’t want to be with you.’ I had no choice but to deny that I was dating my girlfriend. I made efforts to go out with a man so I wouldn’t be bullied.”

The experience led Murakami to closet her real self. But she began to change her mind after she left Akita Bank and transferred to rugby in her late 20s.

“I became better informed through social media and began to believe I am just fine as I am,” she said. “I am also getting support from the atmosphere of my rugby team, where you don’t have to lie.”

As opposed to her past experience, the head coaches of her current team and of Japan’s national team for the women’s 15s congratulated her when she told them that she had started dating a woman.

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Gareth Thomas, left, a former captain of the Welsh national rugby team, who in 2009 was the first active professional rugby player to come out as gay, with Mayumi Taniguchi, center, a Japan Rugby Football Union board member, and Gon Matsunaka, president of Pride House Tokyo, in 2019. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The JRFU held a study meeting last year on gender and other issues for its female sevens and 15s players.

Murakami said she identified as LGBT and asked if there was anything she could do during a question-and-answer session with JRFU board member Mayumi Taniguchi.

She said Taniguchi’s advice--“It’s just fine that you are here”--provided her with great encouragement.

“We, in rugby circles, are lucky to realize that we have a member of the LGBT community among us,” Taniguchi said. “We should turn this into a learning opportunity.”

She added, “Many people feel at a loss what to do when someone comes out as a sexual minority. I hope both Murakami and her team will set an example to follow.”

Murakami decided to come out after receiving support from Pride House Tokyo, a group that sends out information on sexual minorities. She was the third athlete the group has helped come out.

“We are receiving inquiries from businesses that are working on gender equality,” said Gon Matsunaka, president of Pride House Tokyo. “That has made us realize there is a high level of interest in what we are doing.”

He said the group aims to help make it easier for LGBT athletes to come out.

“There are more cases, not just here but around the world, of female athletes coming out as sexual minorities. We hope to help create a climate where men will also find it easier to come out.”

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