“Miss Japan”: Controversy surrounding the election of Karolina Shiino

Karolina Shiino had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and last Monday the time had finally come: Shiino was chosen “Miss Japan”, was presented with a trophy and put on a sash. “I would like to thank everyone who supported and cheered me on,” Shiino then wrote on Instagram. “I believe that the ‘Japanese spirit’ is embedded in Japan’s long history and is passed down through culture and tradition,” she also said.

Trouble over the election of the new “Miss Japan”

But that is exactly what is currently causing a controversy. Because Shiino was born in Ukraine and only came to Japan when he was five years old. Her parents are also not of Japanese descent; Shiino only became naturalized in 2022. “The person chosen as ‘Miss Japan’ is not even half Japanese, but 100% pure Ukrainian. Isn’t that why she is ‘Miss Ukraine’?” said one User on X, formerly Twitter. Just one of many similar reactions.

The organizer behind the Miss pageant, Ai Wada, told the BBC that the decision “gave us the opportunity (…) to rethink what Japanese beauty is.” Shiino speaks and writes “in beautiful and polite Japanese,” said Wada. “She’s more Japanese than we are,” said the organizer.

Organizer defends decision

And Shiino himself? On Instagram, the controversial winner said it was difficult to “define ‘Japaneseness’.” She believes “that it arises from a variety of factors, including the environment and culture in which we live, and that it can be found in the way we think, our behavior and even our small gestures, and that this “leads to our inner beauty”. Shiino said that throughout her life she had to struggle with “barriers” that “often prevented me from being accepted as a Japanese woman.”

Sources: Instagram /