Meet Ariana Miyamoto, the stunning 20-year-old from Japan who was named Miss Universe Japan last week.
It makes total sense that Miyamoto would be crowned Miss Universe Japan right? I mean, she’s from Sasebo in Nagasaki, she speaks the language obviously, and like we said, she is stunning. Oh, she is also half Japanese, half African American, making her the first ever biracial woman to win the Miss Universe Japan title.
But instead of celebrating her win and the fact that she just made history, many people in Japan are criticizing Miymoto as being not “Japanese enough” to win the title.
According Kotaku, a slew of Twitter comments were made after her crowing, questioning if it was right that a biracial person won the tile. “Because this is Miss Universe Japan, don’t you think hafu are a no-no?” one person asked. Another said “Is it okay to select a hafu to represent Japan?” Hafu, or haafu, is a Japanese term to describe someone who is biracial. Let us remind you, that Miyamoto is 100% a Japanese citizen and is most definitely Japanese.
Japan is a consider very homogenous society, and while her crowing shows progress, film maker Megumi Nishikura told NBC News, the country still has a way to go. “The selection of Ariana Miyamoto as this year’s Miss Universe Japan is a huge step forward in expanding the definition of what it means to be Japanese. The controversy that has erupted over her selection is a great opportunity for us Japanese to examine how far we have come from our self-perpetuated myth of homogeneity while at the same time it shows us how much further we have to go.”
Miyamoto will represent Japan in the 2015 Miss Universe pageant.
