Critics are questioning whether the newest Miss Japan is Japanese enough after a Ukrainian-born model took the crown.
Carolina Shiino, 26, took the country’s title Monday night in Tokyo, but not without controversy. Shiino was born to two Ukraine parents in her home country and moved to Japan at the age of five when her mother remarried, according to The Telegraph.
The young model has since gained citizenship in the Asian country a year ago, but critics don’t think that’s enough.
“This person who was chosen as Miss Japan is not even a mix with Japanese but 100% pure Ukrainian,” a critic wrote on X. “Understand she is beautiful, but this is ‘Miss Japan’. Where is the Japaneseness?”
Another said: “How can a white European represent Japan as Miss Japan? This is messed up!”
Many social media users also accused the judges of pitying her because she’s from a war-torn country and it was a political decision to crown her the winner.
“If she were born Russian, she wouldn’t have won. Not a chance. Obviously, the criteria is now a political decision. What a sad day for Japan,” one said.
However, Shiino is shaking off the criticism, calling her win a “dream.”
“I’ve had to face barriers that often prevent me from being accepted as Japanese, so I’m filled with gratitude that I am recognized at this competition as a Japanese person,” she said.
Shiino also said she felt Japanese in both “speech and mind.”
The controversy surrounding her Asian heritage is nothing new to her as she recalled the commentary surrounding her looks growing up, The Telegraph reported.
Her mother, Lana, who is also a model, also won Miss Best Body at a Japanese competition.
The judges also backed their top pick, saying that she was “more Japanese than we are.”
“She speaks and writes in beautiful and polite Japanese,” event organizer Ai Wada told BBC.
Organizers also said they were attracted to Shiino’s “confidence” throughout the pageant.
Shiino isn’t the only winner who doesn’t appear to be Japanese that have won Miss Japan.
In 2015, Ariana Miyamoto won the pageant. Miyamoto was born to a Japanese mother and an African American father, and she was the first mixed-race woman to win the pageant.
She also placed in the top 10 at the Miss Universe pageant.