Carolina Shiino crowned Miss Japan 2024: why is the election of the model controversial ?

Carolina Shiino a été sacrée Miss Japon 2024. EPA/JIJI PRESS – MaxPPP

Le sacre récent de Carolina Shiino, Miss Japon 2024, est critiqué dans le pays. Cette mannequin de 26 ans d'origine ukrainienne est la première citoyenne japonaise naturalisée à remporter le concours Miss Japon.

On January 22, 2024, Carolina Shiino, a 26-year-old young woman, was elected Miss Japan. The model was born in Ukraine. Arriving in Japan at the age of 5, she has since been naturalized. She is the first naturalized Japanese citizen to win this competition, indicates the BBC.

Carolina Shiino, citoyenne japonaise naturalisée, née en Ukraine et vivant au Japon depuis l'âge de 5 ans, a été sacrée hier Miss Japon.
Très émue, elle a dit qu'avoir remporté ce concours lui permet de se sentir pleinement reconnue en tant que Japonaise.https://t.co/7zuMbtbQLf

— ⛩ Ryo Saeba – Japon XYZ ⛩ (@Ryo_Saeba_3) January 23, 2024

His election was not unanimous. On social networks, some regret that she does not look like what a Miss Japan should be. "This person who was chosen as Miss Japan is not even half Japanese, but a 100% pure Ukrainian. Certainly, she is beautiful, but it's Miss Japan", wrote a user on X.

Japanese in her "heart"

"I felt Japanese from a very young age. But I don't look like a Japanese girl. All my life I had to juggle between feeling Japanese without looking Japanese, testified the new Miss Japan, quoted by BFM. The young woman explained that she wanted to participate in the competition because she feels like she is Japanese in her "heart".&nbsp ;

Elected "with full confidence"

At the BBC, the organizer of the competition Ai Wada, assured that Carolina Shiino had been chosen by a panel of 30 judges – the Miss election system in Japan is different from the French system, the public does not vote in Japan, Editor's note – "with full confidence ( …) She speaks and writes in beautiful and polite Japanese. She's more Japanese than us."

In 2015, the election of Miss Japan had already sparked debate with the victory of Ariana Miyamoto, a mixed race woman, who had been the victim of racism.