“There have been racial barriers, and it has been challenging to be accepted as Japanese.”
That’s what a tearful Carolina Shiino said in impeccable Japanese after she was crowned Miss Japan on Monday.
The 26-year-old model, who was born in Ukraine, moved to Japan at the age of five and was raised in Nagoya.
She is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the pageant, but her victory has re-ignited a debate on what it means to be Japanese.
While some recognised her victory as a “sign of the times”, others have said she does not look like what a “Miss Japan” should.
Removed, rule 5, and yeah, I’m removing the other comment too.
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (perjorative, perjorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (perjorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect!
Have you considered maybe that the Japanese are nothing like the Native Americans, and that what’s happening in Japan has nothing to do with racism against the Japanese?
Right? They invoke the genocide of Native Americans to defend the idea of Japanese racial purity being threatened by a single beauty pageant contestant, and I’m the one whitewashing… 🤦♀️
It’s absolutely insane, especially when it comes from those who claim to want to preserve ethnic identities.
If they’re gonna invoke other national identities in conversation, the least they could do is learn about them. If anything drawing comparisons to ethnic cleansing over a fucking beauty pageant is more insensitive than pretty much anything else in this thread.
Other than their connotations that someone cannot be a real Japanese because of their skin colour, that reminds me a bit about America’s history of treating black people.
