Biracial Miss Universe Japan Beauty Queen: Ariana Miyamoto
With more foreign workers and tourists going to Japan, the homogeneous nature of the country’s society will likely change more than ever in the coming decade. One of the leaders of this transformation is biracial beauty queen Ariana Miyamoto. Crowned Miss Japan 2015 in March, Miyamoto is the first multiracial Miss Universe from the country – and she is trying to tackle its deep-rooted racism. She has become a symbol of the nation’s increasingly diverse society while she pursues racial equality and a country free of discrimination.
The daughter of a Japanese woman and an African-American man who served in the U.S. Navy, the 20-year-old bartender-turned-model was born and raised in Nagasaki. But many netizens have complained that Miyamoto – who is 5 feet 8 inches tall, has bronze skin and is super slender – doesn’t look enough like ordinary Japanese women to represent the nation.
Miyamoto said that despite an invitation by the event’s promoter in Nagasaki, she initially refused to participate in the Miss Universe contest last year because no woman of mixed race – or what the Japanese call “hafu” – had previously become Miss Universe Japan.
However, a heartbreaking incident changed her mind: A good friend of Miyamoto’s, a 20-year-old fellow hafu, who was half-white, committed suicide. “He could not find his identity,” she said. “He committed suicide a few days after he told me, ‘I don’t have any idea where I should be located.’”
Miyamoto said her friend suffered partly because he couldn’t speak English. Many Japanese people take for granted that white people usually speak English, she said, and become annoyed by those cannot.
“To ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated and to eliminate prejudice and discrimination,“ she said, “I decided to enter the contest.”
“I hope that Japanese society will become more open by accepting not only hafu but also LGBT people and others,” Miyamoto said. “I hope to make Japan and the world a livable place for everyone.”
“I hope I can improve the situation of racial discrimination as much as possible since I have been combating it. I received some criticism in Japan after I was crowned Miss Universe Japan, even though there are many children of mixed race.” She said. “I hope to eliminate it as much as I can. I have had this hope to change the situation since I was a child, because I had my own experience of difficulties living in the nation. “
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