A Half-Indian Woman Won a Japanese Beauty Pageant and Got a Ton of Racist Backlash
"When I came back to Japan, everyone thought I was a germ."
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Priyanka Yoshikawa will represent Japan at the Miss World beauty pageant this year. But the 22-year-old elephant trainer won't do so with universal praise, because her heritage has sparked racist backlash in her country. Yoshikawa was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an Indian father, and critics have said she doesn't represent "pure Japanese" beauty ideals, according to the Telegraph.
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This is the second time in two years that a Japanese pageant has crowned a mixed-race winner. Last year, the winner of Miss Universe Japan was Ariana Miyamoto, who is half African American. "I don't know Ariana in person, but I've been a big fan of her. She has inspired me to win the competition," Yoshikawa explained to CNN. Yoshikawa, who has spent time in Japan, India, and the United States, said she gets lots of questions about where she's from in Japan but never in India.
BuzzFeed reports Yoshikawa has been the subject of racist backlash ever since her big win. "When a Japanese person is mixed, the face always becomes dirty," one Twitter user wrote. "She's the most disappointing to the Asian race." "What is the point of holding a pageant like this now? Zero national characteristics," another user wrote, according to theTelegraph.
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But she's refusing to let racist critics get her down. "Yes, my dad is Indian, and I'm proud of it. I'm proud that I have Indian in me. But that doesn't mean I'm not Japanese," she told theAFP news agency. She also talked about what it's like to be considered "haafu," the Japanese term for mixed race. "I know a lot of people who are haafu and suffer," she said. "When I came back to Japan, everyone thought I was a germ, like if they touched me they would be touching something bad. But I'm thankful because that made me really strong."
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a63783/priyanka-yoshikawa-half-indian-miss-world-japan/
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