A 26-year-old native of Ukraine became Miss Japan-2024: a loud scandal erupted, in which Russia was also mentioned

The 56th Miss Japan pageant has been held in Tokyo, and Ukrainian-born Karolina Shino won the main crown. The 26-year-old beauty moved to Japan when she was 5 years old. The Ukrainian's victory sparked heated discussions online. Skeptics are convinced that the victory of a girl with such an appearance contradicts the goals of the contest, which is focused on "traditional Japanese beauty."

It is worth noting that Karolina is a Japanese citizen, so, in addition to criticism, she also found a lot of support from some fellow citizens who are convinced that there should be no barriers to the contest based on appearance. However, there is a growing wave of discontent online, as reported by the BBC.

Karolina's parents are Ukrainians. The girl's mother remarried after her father divorced her, to a Japanese man. Karolina was 5 years old when she and her mother moved to Nagoya, Japan.

Netizens reacted to her victory with the following comments: "This person who was chosen as Miss Japan is not even a mixture of Japanese, but 100% pure Ukrainian. Understand that she is beautiful, but she is Miss Japan. Where is the Japaneseness here?", "If she were half Japanese, of course, no problem. But she is ethnically 0% Japanese and was not even born in Japan", "I think the Japanese will naturally get the wrong message when a person of European appearance is called the most beautiful Japanese woman".

The aggressor country Russia was also mentioned in this scandal, suggesting that the choice of the winner, who was born in Ukraine, was allegedly a political decision.

"If she had been born Russian, she would not have won. Not a single chance. Obviously, the criteria are now a political decision. What a sad day for Japan," one of the men wrote online.

Carolina herself assured in an official comment for the contest website: "Although I look like a foreigner on the outside, I grew up in Japan since I was five years old, so my inner self is Japanese. I wanted to be recognized as Japanese, so I decided to participate in the Miss Japan pageant. In the future, I want to contribute to the creation of a society that recognizes diversity and does not judge people by their appearance. Now I work as a model where looks are a commodity, but I want to touch the hearts of many people through my message. The fact that I was recognized as Japanese in this contest fills me with gratitude."

The organizers of Miss Japan also commented on the victory of the ethnic Ukrainian. They assured that they gave the main crown to Carolina with full confidence in their decision.

"She speaks and writes beautiful and polite Japanese. She's more Japanese than some of us," contest organizer Ai Wada responded to the scandal.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Mrs. World 2023 contest was held in Las Vegas, USA, where 38 participants from different countries competed for the coveted crown. The prestigious title was won by Julia Carolin from Germany. Ukraine was represented by Olena Yelizarova, a businesswoman, mother of many children and wife of a National Guard officer. In the image of the Goddess of Peace Eirene, she powerfully addressed the audience from the stage.

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