Ariana Miyamoto Research Paper
The beauty contestant who is turning head, but not for the reasons you might think.
Ariana Miyamoto is a beauty contestant winner from Japan who has got the country talking. She is tall and without doubt stunningly beautiful, however many people have commented on the fact that she doesn’t ‘look Japanese’.
Ariana was crowned Miss Universe Japan in Tokyo in March this year but it has not been the happy time we might all predict. She has faced a barrage of backlash in Japan for being mixed race. The 21 year old winner is the daughter of a Japanese mother and an African-American father. She was born in Japan and has spent the entirety of her life living in Japan. Her mother met her father whilst he was stationed at a US Naval base in Sasebo, near Nagasaki. Ariana knows very little about her father’s home of Arkansas in the United States. Even so, she is considered by many Japanese as not being Japanese enough. In fact, the term used to describe her is ‘hafu’, a Japanese word taken from the English word to mean ‘half’. Whereas most people may be offended by this, Ariana embraces the label.
"If it was not for the word hafu, it would be very hard to describe who I am, what kind of person I am in Japan," she says. "If I say I am …show more content…
Ariana entered the competition after one of her closest friend’s committed suicide due to racial discrimination. Ariana’s friend was half- Caucasian and had been speaking with Ariana about the perils of being of mixed-race heritage in Japan. "I decided to enter to change perceptions of, and discrimination toward, half-Japanese — so that something like that would never happen again," she said. "I want to change how people think about (racial issues), and I entered the contest prepared to be criticized. I can't say I'm not upset about it, but I was expecting it." Ariana also experienced racial abuse whilst growing up in her small hometown of
Ariana Miyamoto is a beauty contestant winner from Japan who has got the country talking. She is tall and without doubt stunningly beautiful, however many people have commented on the fact that she doesn’t ‘look Japanese’.
Ariana was crowned Miss Universe Japan in Tokyo in March this year but it has not been the happy time we might all predict. She has faced a barrage of backlash in Japan for being mixed race. The 21 year old winner is the daughter of a Japanese mother and an African-American father. She was born in Japan and has spent the entirety of her life living in Japan. Her mother met her father whilst he was stationed at a US Naval base in Sasebo, near Nagasaki. Ariana knows very little about her father’s home of Arkansas in the United States. Even so, she is considered by many Japanese as not being Japanese enough. In fact, the term used to describe her is ‘hafu’, a Japanese word taken from the English word to mean ‘half’. Whereas most people may be offended by this, Ariana embraces the label.
"If it was not for the word hafu, it would be very hard to describe who I am, what kind of person I am in Japan," she says. "If I say I am …show more content…
Ariana entered the competition after one of her closest friend’s committed suicide due to racial discrimination. Ariana’s friend was half- Caucasian and had been speaking with Ariana about the perils of being of mixed-race heritage in Japan. "I decided to enter to change perceptions of, and discrimination toward, half-Japanese — so that something like that would never happen again," she said. "I want to change how people think about (racial issues), and I entered the contest prepared to be criticized. I can't say I'm not upset about it, but I was expecting it." Ariana also experienced racial abuse whilst growing up in her small hometown of