For the first time ever, Japan has crowned a woman of colour at its national Beauty queen.
20 year-old Ariana Miyamoto, who is half black and half Japanese is the first mixed race woman to win the coveted crown and will represent Japan in the upcoming Miss Universe.
However, as is always the case with these types of things, a group of people, have decided that this somehow isn’t right, that Miyamato is somehow not Japanese enough, despite the fact that she is Japanese, by birth and by law, and is also fluent in what is her native tongue.
This, of course, is not too surprising considering the fact that Japan is one of the least diverse countries in the world with interracial marriages generally being way out of the norm, and often frowned upon.
Miyamoto, feels at heart Japanese, but admits that she has always felt like an outsider in her own country, where she was often bullied for looking different.
“In school people used to throw rubbish at me,” she told CNN. “They also used racial slurs.”
Despite the criticism, with one commenter even saying only someone who is 100% Japanese should not be allowed to represent the country, Miyamoto has also received an overwhelming amount of support, with some even saying that her representing Japan, shows a massive shift in the country’s ideas about race.
“However, not everyone thinks that way,” it said. “There were comments supporting her selection, with people saying that the only thing that matters is whether or not she’s a citizen and loves this country or whether or not she was born and raised in Japan.
“Others said criticizing the selection because she wasn’t ‘Japanese’ enough was ‘pathetic’ and outdated thinking.”
