Japanese people argue about new Miss Ukraine

Japanese people are arguing on social media about who represents the country's beauty, after a Ukrainian model was crowned Miss Japan.

Carolina Shiino, 26, a white model born in Ukraine, was crowned Miss Japan on January 22. She moved to Japan when she was 5 years old and lives in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture.

"I have lived as a Japanese, but there were racial barriers and many cases where I was not recognized," Shiino said in fluent Japanese when she was crowned. "I am extremely grateful that today, I have truly been recognized as a Japanese person."

Carolina Shiino was crowned Miss Japan on January 22. Photo: Sankei Shimbun

In recent years, Japan has opened its doors further to foreign nationals in an effort to improve its falling birth rate. Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world .

Shiino is the first naturalized Japanese citizen to win a beauty pageant, but this has also led to debate on social media about whether Shiino is truly the face of the country.

"So a person who is not of Japanese blood and has no Japanese features at all represents Japanese women?", one person wrote on social network X.

Another person agreed, saying that Shiino is 100% Ukrainian. "I know she's pretty, but this is the Miss Japan pageant. Where are all the Japanese?", he said.

A third opinion said it would be fine if Shiino was half Japanese. "She wasn't even born in Japan," said a netizen.

Others said Shiino's victory sent the "wrong message" to the country's people "when someone with European looks becomes the most beautiful person in Japan".

Some questioned whether the choice of the Ukrainian model was a political decision. "If she was born in Russia, she would have had no chance of winning. Sad day for Japan," one commenter said.

Carolina Shiino in traditional Japanese kimono. Photo: Instagram/karolina0824

Ai Wada, the organizer of the Miss Japan pageant, defended the judges' decision. "She speaks fluent Japanese and writes very beautiful and elegant Japanese. She is more Japanese than us," she said.

Others said Shiino's victory was a "sign of the times" and that she had the right to represent the country she belongs to. "If you have Japanese nationality, you are Japanese. What else do you need to prove?", said one X user.

Shiino hopes people will notice more than just her looks. On the pageant website, Shiino writes that she has a foreign appearance but a Japanese soul.

The reaction to Shiino's victory was reminiscent of the public storm that surrounded Ariana Miyamoto, the daughter of a Japanese mother and an African-American father, who represented Japan at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant. Ariana was the first biracial woman to be crowned Miss Japan.

Huyen Le (According to Reuters , BBC )

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