Ukrainian-born model Carolina Shiino crowned Miss Japan, ignites debate

A model who was born in Ukraine has been crowned Miss Japan, sparking controversy and reigniting a debate over Japanese identity.

Carolina Shiino, 26, won the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix pageant on Monday. The model moved to Japan when she was five and has lived there since, becoming a naturalized citizen in 2022.

Shiino said she has as strong a sense of Japanese identity as anyone else, despite not having Japanese heritage.

"It really is like a dream," Shiino said in fluent Japanese during her tearful acceptance speech Monday. "I've faced a racial barrier. Even though I'm Japanese, there have been times when I was not accepted. I'm full of gratitude today that I have been accepted as Japanese."

“I hope to contribute to building a society that respects diversity and is not judgmental about how people look,” Shiino added.

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Carolina Shiino has 'unwavering confidence that I am Japanese'

Shiino's crowning triggered a debate over whether she should represent Japan, with some on social media contending that she should not have been selected when she isn't ethnically Japanese, even if she grew up in Japan. Others disagreed, arguing her Japanese citizenship makes her Japanese.

Growing up, Shiino said she had difficulty because of the gap between how she is treated because of her foreign appearance and her self-identity as Japanese. But she said working as a model has given her confidence. “I may look different, but I have unwavering confidence that I am Japanese,” she said.

Japan has a growing number of people with multiracial and multicultural backgrounds, as more people marry foreigners and the country accepts foreign workers to make up for its rapidly aging and declining population. But tolerance of diversity has lagged.

In an interview with CNN, Shiino said that she "kept being told that I'm not Japanese, but I am absolutely Japanese, so I entered Miss Japan genuinely believing in myself." She added, "I was really happy to be recognized like this."

Before Carolina Shiino, biracial model Ariana Miyamoto represented Japan in Miss Universe

Shiino is only the latest to face the repercussions of questions over what makes someone Japanese.

In 2015, Ariana Miyamoto became the first biracial person to represent Japan in the Miss Universe contest, leading critics to question whether someone with a mixed racial background should represent Japan.

Miyamoto was born and raised in Nagasaki, Japan, by a Japanese mother and an African American father who was stationed at the U.S. naval base in Sasebo. She said at the time that she had initially turned down an invitation to compete when she learned that no biracial person had ever entered the Miss Universe-Japan pageant, but changed her mind after a close friend who was half-Caucasian committed suicide only days after they discussed problems confronting mixed-race Japanese.

"I decided to enter to change perceptions of, and discrimination toward, half-Japanese — so that something like that would never happen again," she said. "I want to change how people think about (racial issues), and I entered the contest prepared to be criticized. I can't say I'm not upset about it, but I was expecting it."

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Contributing: Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press; Kirk Spitzer, USA TODAY