Ukrainian woman wins Miss Japan 2024 pageant: debate heated up in society

On 23 January, Ukrainian citizen of Japan Carolina Shiino became the winner of the Miss Japan 2024 pageant. Her victory caused active controversy over her nationality. This is reported by BBC.

the 26-year-old is the first winner who was born outside the country, has no Japanese roots and is the oldest among all Miss Japan of previous years.

"There were racial barriers and it was difficult to be accepted as Japanese," a tearful Caroline Shiino said in flawless Japanese after winning the Miss Japan crown.

the 26-year-old model, born in Ukraine, moved to Japan at the age of five with her mum and grew up in Nagoya.

She is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the pageant, but her victory has reignited the debate about what it means to be Japanese," the publication said.

While some recognised her win as a "sign of the times", others said she didn't look like what Miss Japan should look like.

Her win comes almost 10 years after Ariana Miyamoto became the first woman of mixed descent to win the Miss Japan title in 2015.

The fact that Caroline Shiino does not have Japanese ancestry upset some Japanese people on social media.

This person who was chosen as Miss Japan is not even a mix of Japanese, but 100% pure Ukrainian. Understand, she is beautiful, but this is Miss Japan. Where is the Japaneseness? - said in one of the messages in social networks.

Ai Wada, the organiser of the Miss Japan Grand Prix pageant, said the judges chose Karolina as the winner with "complete confidence".

She speaks and writes in beautiful and polite Japanese. She is more Japanese than we are," Ai Wada said.

Caroline herself said after she became a Japanese citizen that although she doesn't look Japanese, her mentality has become Japanese because she grew up in the country.