Multiracial woman named 鈥楳iss Japan鈥
Print Edition
Ariana Miyamoto hadn鈥檛 planned to enter a Japanese beauty contest because she figured her multiracial origins meant she couldn鈥檛 win. Then a close multiracial friend committed suicide.
So Miyamoto, the daughter of a Japanese woman and an African-American man, whose bronze skin and height of 1.73 meters are unusual in Japan, where she was born and brought up, took part in the pageant and won, becoming 鈥淢iss Japan.鈥
鈥淚 thought that, for my friend鈥檚 sake, if there was something I could do to change Japan, I should,鈥 Miyamoto, 20, a dual Japanese and US national, told Reuters.
Miyamoto鈥檚 selection last month as Japan鈥檚 representative to the 鈥淢iss Universe鈥 contest set off an internet firestorm, despite a push to welcome foreigners ahead of the 2020 Olympics.
鈥淭hat big mouth, that gaudy face. This is Miss Japan?鈥 one social media commenter wrote.
The carping was not new for Miyamoto, who attended a Japanese public school where children would refuse to touch her because 鈥渕y color might rub off,鈥 she said. Fed up, she attended a US high school.
But the pull of her birthplace was strong and she returned, though she said she is treated like a foreigner every day.
It鈥檚 a frustration shared by a growing number of multiracial Japanese, who may look different in an extremely homogeneous nation.
In 2013, international marriages made up 3.3 percent of the total, government figures show, or four times the 1980 figure.
Miyamoto鈥檚 victory was 鈥渞efreshing,鈥 said Greg Dvorak, a researcher in Asian and Pacific culture and history at Hitotsubashi University.
鈥淢y sense is there is a growing shift among younger generations to accept that people with all faces can speak Japanese and function successfully in Japanese society,鈥 he said.
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