Niger Top News

Photo :Black Japanese Miss Universe Japan fights for acceptance in her home country

After winning Miss Universe Japan and facing criticism for not being “Japanese enough,” Ariana Miyamoto is still fighting to change the conception of mixed-race people Japan.

Race is based off what heritage you link back to, while ethnicity is the learned cultural behaviors of a certain region. This means because Miyamoto is half African American and half Japanese, her race is African-American and Japanese, while her ethnicity is Japanese because she was born and raised in Japan.

According to NY Times:

Ms. Miyamoto is one of only a tiny handful of “hafu,” or Japanese of mixed race, to win a major beauty pageant in proudly homogeneous Japan. And she is the first half-black woman ever to do so.

Ms. Miyamoto’s victory wins her the right to represent Japan on the global stage at the international Miss Universe pageant expected in January. She said she hoped that her appearance — and better yet, a victory — would push more Japanese to accept hafu. However, she said, Japan may have a long way to go.

Even after her victory in the national competition, local journalists have had a hard time accepting her as Japanese.