Who Is Carolina Shiino, Who Becomes Miss Japan? What Connection She Has With Ukraine?

Controversy has arisen after a Japanese model born in Ukraine became Miss Japan-2024. According to a report by Independent, 26-year-old Carolina Shiino won the competition in Tokyo on Monday. She became the first naturalized Japanese citizen to win this competition.

According to the report, when Shino was five years old, she came to Japan with her mother. Shino’s mother had remarried a Japanese man. Shino considers herself Japanese by ‘speech and mind’. Their goal is to establish a culture in which ‘people are not judged by their looks.’

Questions raised on social media on Shino’s victory

However, many people raised questions on Shino’s victory on social media. Such people argue that how can the ‘Miss Japan’ award be given to a girl who is not of Japanese origin?

One user said, ‘As a non-Japanese living in Japan, I also think that choosing someone (Miss Japan) who has no ethnic ties to Japan is beyond ridiculous.’

Another user wrote on X, ‘Many Japanese people, including those I know, are not happy with the selection of Miss Japan. If instead of adopting multiculturalism, people continue to assess Japaneseness on the basis of roots and consider only those with pure Japanese blood as their own, then the Japanese people in Japan will be destroyed.

Another person said, ‘I think Japanese people will naturally get the wrong message when a European-looking person is called the most beautiful Japanese.’

What did the organizer say?

Contest organizer Ai Wada said after Shino was announced as the winner that it ‘gave us an opportunity to think about what Japanese beauty is.’ He said, ‘After today’s result, I am sure of one thing…Japanese beauty is neither present in the looks, nor in the blood, but it is present strongly in our hearts.’