“There have been racial barriers, and it has been challenging to be accepted as Japanese.”
That’s what a tearful Carolina Shiino said in impeccable Japanese after she was crowned Miss Japan on Monday.
The 26-year-old model, who was born in Ukraine, moved to Japan at the age of five and was raised in Nagoya.
She is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the pageant, but her victory has re-ignited a debate on what it means to be Japanese.
While some recognised her victory as a “sign of the times”, others have said she does not look like what a “Miss Japan” should.
Locking the thread… This is one of those stories that as soon as I saw it, my gut reaction was “Oh, no good will come from this.”
Lots of reports, overt racism, covert racism, comments removed, users banned…
Saving you from yourselves. This is why we can’t have nice things.