Gay Japanese volleyball pro reveals his star brother’s surprising reaction to coming out
Gay Japanese pro volleyball player Rui Takahashi speaks about his brother Ran’s response to his historic coming out, in a new interview.
Mark
When he decided to make history as the first Japanese pro sportsman to come out as gay, Rui Takahashi was ready for almost anything — including the end of his volleyball career.
However, he has instead been met with overwhelmingly positive support in the last month from his teammates, his club and fans from across the world.
It’s a coming-out journey that began with a refreshingly casual reaction from his younger brother, Ran, who is an outside hitter on the national team. Japan recently qualified for the L.A. Olympics as Asian champions.
Until recently, the brothers played their club volleyball together for Suntory Sunbirds Osaka. Ran has just started the new season in Poland with his new team LKPS Lublin, but Rui is still with the Sunbirds in Japan’s SV.League.
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The 26-year-old has now given his first feature interview since coming out to the newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
He describes years of personal struggle leading up to his announcement, and says he had even prepared himself to walk away from his sport entirely, if the reaction had been really hostile.
Faced with being a genuine trailblazer in Japan, those fears were understandable but were ultimately not met, as is almost always the case. Instead, it’s been the exact opposite, which has given Rui Takahashi a huge confidence boost.
That’s reflected in the brothers’ home city of Kyoto, where their mother runs a cafe. “After my announcement, so many people came and told my parents, ‘we will continue to support you.’ Not a single person has left us,” says Rui.
ゲイ公表、バレー男子の高橋塁選手 葛藤や思い語るインタビュー全文 https://t.co/THMzPxqDVO— 朝日新聞スポーツ (@asahi_sports_) October 21, 2026
In the interview, he explains how he threw himself into volleyball from a young age, using it as a way to distract himself from his feelings. As a teenager, there was occasional gossip among his friends about his sexuality, but he would shrug off any rumors.
However, in his early 20s, Takahashi began to struggle with his inner conflict. He first confided in his cousin, as she is close to both brothers and is around the same age.
Asked what prompted that conversation in 2024, Rui says: “I had the opportunity to fall in love with a man for the first time. Up until then, I didn’t understand myself, I was denying myself, and I wasn’t trying to confront myself.”
Soon after, he spoke to his brother, who is one of Japan’s star players and who at the time had recently joined the Sunbirds. “When I first told Ran, he said, ‘that’s interesting.’ That wasn’t the response I had expected at all.
“It was like, ‘no, I’m actually worried about it!’ I was really relieved by his casual attitude.
“After that, of course we talked about all sorts of things, but rather than getting caught up in the seriousness of the situation, his initial reaction made me realize that I didn’t need to take it so seriously.”
Over the following two years, Rui opened up to several trusted friends until he reached the point when he considered telling the world via social media. He had read about athletes like Tom Daley and Erik Shoji, but with no role models in Japan, he was still concerned about what the public’s response might be.
But weighing it all up in his mind, he decided to take the plunge anyway. “Whether I’m playing volleyball or not, once I envision the person I want to become, I have a personality that makes me unhappy if I don’t achieve it,” he explained.
“I think it’s probably because I have a serious personality, and once I say I want to make it public, I just go ahead and say it.
“When I thought about how I’d be able to be recognized for it [being gay], and how there must be so many fans and people who are struggling with the same feelings, I felt a strong desire to make it public as soon as possible. I also didn’t want to turn 30 without making it public.”
Again, Ran was in his brother’s corner. “I realized that in the eyes of the public, I’m seen as ‘Ran Takahashi’s brother,’ and I was worried that it might cause some kind of disadvantage to him.
“When I told Ran about it, he said, ‘No, that doesn’t matter.’ His exact words were, ‘It’s your life, so I’ll support it.’ And that meant a lot to me.”
Pride House Tokyo chair has ‘deep respect’ for Rui Takahashi
In a perfect example of Outsports’ “Courage is Contagious” slogan, Takahashi’s coming out was quickly followed by another in Japanese men’s volleyball.
Reon Arao, a player with the Sunbirds’ league rivals Voreas Hokkaido, also posted on social media about being LGBTQ. Before doing so, they had reached out to Takahashi.
“They asked for advice, saying they were also struggling with something, and asked if it was OK to include in their message that they had been inspired by me,” said Rui. “I replied, ‘of course, that’s fine.’
“I’m just so happy that I was able to support them when they mustered the courage to speak out.”
The two comings-out have come as a source of inspiration for Pride House Tokyo, which has established Japan’s first permanent, large-scale LGBTQ community center in the capital’s Shinjuku district.
The center was originally launched to raise awareness during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was the first Pride House to ever be officially recognized by an Olympic organizing committee.
Since then, the project has grown well beyond sports into a broader support network for the LGBTQ community, backed by a coalition of non-profits, businesses, and foreign embassies.
Yuri Igarashi is the chair of Pride House Tokyo. She told Outsports: “We have deep respect for Rui Takahashi for sharing this in his own words and at his own time.
“The difficulty of coming out as a top male athlete in a team sport has long been talked about, in every country. The very next day, Reon Arao also spoke publicly about being LGBTQ, saying Rui’s courage had given them the push to do so.
“One person’s step leads to another’s — it feels like a moment of real change in Japanese sport.
“What matters now is that both can keep playing and thriving as volleyball players, just as before. Teams, leagues, sponsors, media and every fan all have a part in creating that environment.”
Like Takahashi, Igarashi has also been encouraged by the reactions.
“The response on social media has been largely warm, though we have also seen some sensational headlines and hurtful comments. We hope the media will continue to cover them as athletes, not only as ‘athletes who came out’.
“Reon Arao’s choice to describe themselves as close to ‘questioning,’ without forcing a label, also carries great meaning for many young people who are still exploring their own identity.”
Igarashi explained that out athletes do take some risk in coming out, as there is no law in Japan prohibiting discrimination based on orientation or gender identity.
“Change should not depend on individual courage alone — sports federations and leagues need clear policies and support systems. Pride House Tokyo will keep walking alongside athletes, staff and fans as a place where everyone can feel safe.”
It will take a lot longer to see the full impact of Rui Takahashi’s coming out moment. But for now, his story and that of Reon Arao are signs of a culture shift that is gathering pace in Japan, and resonating far beyond its shores as well.
You can read the full interview with Rui Takahashi on the Asahi Shimbun website.
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