“It has been a challenge to be accepted as Japanese.” That is what he said Carolina China tearfully in impeccable Japanese after being crowned Miss Japan this week. “I have had to face racial barriers,” she added.
The 26-year-old model, who was born in Ukraine, moved to Japan when she was five and grew up in the city of Nagoya. She is the first naturalized Japanese citizen to win the pageant, and His victory has reignited the debate about what it means to be Japanese.
While some recognized her victory as a “sign of the times,” others said she is nothing like what a Miss Japan should be.
Her triumph comes almost 10 years after Ariana Miyamoto became the first biracial woman to be crowned Miss Japan, in 2015.
At the time, the victory of Miyamoto, the daughter of a Japanese mother and African-American father, raised questions about whether a mixed-race person should be eligible to win the contest.
Now, the fact that Shiino does not have any Japanese ancestry has caused annoyance on social media. “This person who was elected Miss Japan It’s not even a mix with Japanese, but purely Ukrainian. I understand that she is beautiful, but this is Miss Japan. “Where is the Japaneseness?” wrote a user on X.
“If it was half (Japanese), of course there would be no problem. But she is ethnically 0% Japanese and she was not even born in Japan,” another user posted.
Others stated that his victory sends a “wrong message” to other people in the country. “I think Japanese people are naturally going to get the wrong message when a European-looking person is called the most beautiful Japanese.”
Others suggested that the choice of the Ukrainian-born model could have been a political decision. “If she had been born in Russia, she wouldn’t have won. There is no chance. Obviously, The criterion is now political. What a sad day for Japan,” one person alleged.
Ai Wada, organizer of Miss Japan Grand Prix, told the BBC that the judges chose Shiino as the winner with “full confidence.” “She speaks and writes in beautiful, courteous Japanese,” Wada said. “She is more Japanese than us.”
Shiino announced in Instagram early last year he had received Japanese nationality. “She may not look Japanese, but my mind has become Japanese from growing up in Japan,” she emphasized.
Accepting the trophy as Miss Japan 2024, she stated that winning the title was “a dream.” “Being recognized as Japanese in this contest fills me with gratitude.”
*With additional reporting by Chie Kobayashi.
