Miss Japan was forced to give up the crown. The reason is bizarre

A Ukraine-born model with Japanese citizenship who won the 2024 Miss Japan beauty pageant has given up her title. Karolina Shiino, 26, from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, became the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the title in Tokyo on 22 January. While some welcomed her crowning, others questioned what constitutes traditional Japanese beauty ideals. The controversy escalated when a local magazine published an expose alleging an affair with a married man. Here’s all we know about the controversy. The explosive article According to a report by Shukan Bunshun, Shiino had engaged in a relationship with a married influencer and doctor, who was not named in any media outlets. The organisers of the pageant initially defended her by saying that the 26-year-old was unaware of the man’s marital status. “Miss Japan Association believes there was no fault on the part of Karolina Shiino,” it said on its website. However, later, they confirmed that she had continued the relationship even after knowing about it. In a statement issued on Monday, the Miss Japan Association said it had accepted her request to relinquish her title and ‘‘seriously reflects on our responsibility in bringing about the series of disturbances." It also offered its “deep apologies” to sponsors, judges, and other stakeholders, while adding that the title of Miss Japan will remain vacant for the rest of the year after Shiino’s decision. On her Instagram on Monday, Shiino apologised to her followers and said, “I am truly sorry for the huge trouble I have caused and for betraying those who supported me.” She added that she had been “unable to speak the truth due to confusion and fear."

Shiino’s agency, Free Wave, has also accepted her proposal to terminate her contract with them, according to The Independent. The debate over race Ukraine-born Shiino moved to Japan at the age of five when her mother married a Japanese man. She was raised in Nagoya. Although she is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the contest, her win has reignited the debate of what it means to be Japanese. A user on X commented, “This person who was chosen as Miss Japan is not even a mix with Japanese but 100% pure Ukrainian. Understand she is beautiful, but this is ‘Miss Japan’. Where is the Japaneseness?,” while another one stated her victory was sending “the wrong message” to others in the country. “I think that Japanese people naturally (would) get the wrong message when a European looking person is called the most beautiful Japanese.”

Another one quipped, “If she was half [Japanese], sure no problem. But she’s ethnically 0% Japanese and wasn’t even born in Japan,” and another one asked whether choosing the Ukrainian-born model was a political decision. “If she were born Russian, she wouldn’t have won. Not a chance. Obviously the criteria is now a political decision. What a sad day for Japan,” a user alleged. Responding to the backlash, Ai Wada, the organiser of the Miss Japan Grand Prix pageant told the British news channel that judges had chosen Shiino as the winner with “full confidence.” “She speaks and writes in beautiful and polite Japanese,” Wada said, adding, “She is more Japanese than we are.” While accepting her trophy, Shiino said winning the title was “a dream.” “Being recognised as a Japanese in this competition fills me with gratitude,” she said. Winning Miss Japan title Shiino was the first person of European descent to take home the grand prize in the competition to choose the representation of the “foremost beauty of all Japanese women.” The 26-year-old stated on Instagram last year that although she “may not look Japanese,” her upbringing in Japan had led her to “become Japanese” mentally. [caption id=“attachment_13695202” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Karolina Shiino, the winner of the Miss Japan 2024, poses with other prize winners at the contest in Tokyo, Japan. Reuters[/caption] In her speech at the Miss Japan Gran Prix pageant, she declared herself to be Japanese in “speech and mind,” and shared her goal of establishing a culture in which “people are not judged by their appearance.” “I’ve had to face barriers that often prevent me from being accepted as Japanese, so I am filled with gratitude to be recognised at this competition as a Japanese person,” she said. While speaking to the Japan Times after winning the crown, she spoke about her struggles with her identity while growing up. “All my life I’ve been told I’m not Japanese enough, both directly and indirectly, but I know I am Japanese. I can’t help it. Nobody has the right to tell me I’m not,” she said, adding, “I don’t think it’s one thing that makes you Japanese. What I do know is that it’s a matter of the heart,” she added. “If a person thinks she is Japanese, then she is.” The first bi-racial women to win the title Shiino’s win comes nearly 10 years after Ariana Miyamoto became the first bi-racial woman to win the title of Miss Japan in 2015, according to another report by BBC. Miyamoto’s success at the time sparked debate regarding whether a person of mixed race should be allowed to win the competition because of her African American father and Japanese mother. With inputs from agencies