Ariana Miyamoto became the first biracial contestant to be crowned Miss Universe Japan in 2015.
Her win was a symbolic one. Born in Nagasaki, Japan, to a Japanese mother and African-American father, Miyamoto stretched rigid cultural ideas about what it means to be Japanese, making room for more hafu, or half-Japanese, people like her.
And despite the backlash, her coup also encouraged Priyanka Yoshikawa — a half-Indian, half-Japanese English teacher and qualified elephant trainer living in Tokyo — to enter another high-profile beauty pageant: Miss World. On Monday, Yoshikawa took home the crown.
India in Japanインド大使館 ✔@IndianEmbTokyo
Congratulations to Ms.Priyanka Yoshikawa for winning the Miss World Japan 2016
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Following her win, Yoshikawa reflected on Miyamoto's legacy, telling AFP: "Before Ariana, hafu girls couldn’t represent Japan… That’s what I thought too. I didn’t doubt it or challenge it until this day. Ariana encouraged me a lot by showing me and showing all mixed girls the way."
"I know a lot of people who are hafu and suffer," Yoshikawa said, noting how multiracial people are othered in the largely racially homogenous country. "We have problems, we've been struggling and it hurts."
The beauty queen, who spent one year in India and the three years in the U.S., adds that she faced less ostracism abroad than at home. "When I came back to Japan, everyone thought I was a germ. Like, if they touched me they would be touching something bad."
"When I'm abroad, people never ask me what mix I am. As Miss Japan, hopefully I can help change perceptions so that it can be the same here too. The number of people with mixed race is only going to increase, so people have to accept it."
Yoshikawa will compete for the Miss World crown in Washington this December.