A beauty queen has once again re-ignited a debate on what it means to be Japanese.

“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.

  • WraithGear@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    10 months ago

    Whitewashing… you keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.

    White washing means to attempt to change history to make something seem less bad than it actually was, or who someone was.

    Do you mean cultural appropriation? Though saying it like that kinda damns your point of view.