毎日新聞

Miyamoto「2015ミス・ユニバース」日本代表の最終選考会が12日、東京で行われ、長崎県代表のアルバイト・宮本エリアナさん(20)が日本代表に輝いた。宮本さんは代表選出後のスピーチで「ハーフの私でいいのかなという不安もあった」と心境を語り、「世界大会はもっともっと過酷だと思いますけど、自分を信じて、自分らしく頑張りたいと思います」と意気込んだ。
母親は日本人、父親がアメリカ人で長崎で生まれ育った。大型自動二輪免許保有、趣味はツーリング。書道5段。

4 thoughts on “毎日新聞

  1. shinichi Post author

    ミス・ユニバース:日本代表に長崎の20歳 宮本エリアナさん 「ハーフの私でいいのかな」

    http://mainichi.jp/mantan/news/20150312dyo00m100073000c.html

     「2015ミス・ユニバース」日本代表の最終選考会が12日、東京・ホテル椿山荘東京(東京都文京区)でファイナリスト44人が出場して行われ、長崎県代表のアルバイト・宮本エリアナさん(20)が日本代表に輝いた。宮本さんは代表選出後のスピーチで「ハーフの私でいいのかなという不安もあった」と心境を語り、「世界大会はもっともっと過酷だと思いますけど、自分を信じて、自分らしく頑張りたいと思います」と意気込んだ。

     宮本さんは身長173センチ。バスト87センチ、ウエスト60センチ、ヒップ87センチ。母親は日本人、父親がアメリカ人で長崎で生まれ育った。大型自動二輪免許保有、趣味はツーリング。書道5段。同コンテストの公式サイトのインタビューでは「地元長崎の中学校を卒業後、アメリカに留学しました。帰国後はモデルを中心に活動しています」といい、「かつおで出汁をとったおみそ汁が得意」と話している。

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  2. shinichi Post author

    The Face of Japan Is Changing, But Some Aren’t Ready

    by Brian Ashcraft

    http://kotaku.com/the-face-of-japan-is-changing-but-some-arent-ready-1691234262#

    Change happens slowly in Japan, but it does happen. You wake up one day, and things that weren’t possible years ago are happening today. Nowhere is that more evident than in the woman who will represent Japan in the Miss Universe pageant—but that’s to the chagrin of some who wanted a more “Japanese” winner.

    Eriana Miyamoto is the twenty-year-old selected to represent Japan in the upcoming Miss Universe pageant. As reported by Mainichi News, Miyamoto even expressed uneasiness as to whether or not it would be okay for a hafu [half-Japanese] like her to represent Japan.

    When introducing herself to reporters after her selection, Miyamoto said that her mother is Japanese and her father is American. She added that she was born and raised in Nagasaki and that while she doesn’t “look Japanese” on the outside, on the inside, there are many Japanese things about her.

    Let’s be clear. She is Japanese. She’s a Japanese citizen. She grew up here. She was born here. She’s Japanese. Yet, out of politeness or even humility, she explained herself to the Japanese press. After this was out of the way, the rest of her interview progressed fairly normally with questions about how she felt when her name was announced or if she’s thinking of entering the Japanese entertainment industry.

    Her selection has caused controversy online in Japan. Website Byokan Sunday and Naver Matome have a good round-up of comments that appeared on Twitter. Comments like, “Is it okay to select a hafu to represent Japan?” or “Because this is Miss Universe Japan, don’t you think hafu are a no-no?” When not wondering if this was “okay,” others said things like she didn’t look Japanese, her face was “too gaijin” or that the country deserved a “pure-blooded Japanese” (純日本人 or “junnihon”) beauty instead. Elsewhere online, one commenter wrote, “It makes me uncomfortable to say she’s representing Japan.”

    Because the vast, vast majority of Japan is filled with Japanese people from homogeneous backgrounds, you get comments like this from people who have no idea what it is like to be different or not to be part of an overwhelming majority. There’s a lack of empathy, and unfortunately, that can reflect poorly on Japanese society.

    Consider that mixed marriages between Japanese and Chinese and Koreans have been happening since the 7th century and that by the 9th century, a third of all nobles in Japan claimed foreign ancestors. This intermingling has happened throughout Japan’s history, so the term “pure-blooded Japanese” can seem ambiguous at best. However, while the number of hafu are increasing, the number of mixed marriages is still low. In 2006, for example, 5.46 percent of all brides were foreign (and 1.18 percent of the grooms were foreign). Yes, the vast majority were with Filipino, Chinese, and Korean spouses. But, annually, there are 20,000 mixed babies born in Japan.

    On GirlsChannel, a popular site that allows readers to vote on comments, many of the highest-rated comments said that they wanted a more “Japanese” contestant to represent Japan—with the explicit implication that half-Japanese people do not reflect the country. However, not everyone thinks that way. This is extremely important to point out. There were comments supporting her selection, with people saying that the only thing that matters is whether or not she’s a citizen and loves this country or whether or not she was born and raised in Japan. Others said criticizing the selection because she wasn’t “Japanese” enough was “pathetic” and outdated thinking.

    The notion of being Japanese has traditionally been narrow. There is no denying that. But babies that are born here, grow up here, and speak Japanese as their native language act and think, well, Japanese. The same goes for anyone who is raised in any country. Your environment breeds culture. Your culture is how you define your identity. Your identity is what makes you who you are.

    You know, you see movies like Hafu (above), and you think the country is changing, and then, you see stuff like this. One commenter on website GirlsChannel put it best: “Even if you are hafu, if you have Japanese citizenship, then you’re Japanese.” If only more people felt that way. Many do. Over time, maybe more will.

    I wish Miyamoto-san the best as she represents her country to the world, even if her country doesn’t always do the best job of representing itself.

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  3. shinichi Post author

    Miss Universe Japan Ariana Miyamoto faces criticism for being ‘not Japanese enough’

    The Independent

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/miss-universe-japan-ariana-miyamoto-faces-criticism-for-being-not-japanese-enough-10132732.html

    She was born and raised in Nagasaki, speaks Japanese as her first language and has a Japanese mother – but Miss Universe contestant Ariana Miyamoto is facing criticism from those who say she is not “Japanese enough”.

    The 20-year-old model became the first ever mixed-race beauty pageant winner when she was crown Miss Nagazaki earlier this year, success which has not come without challenges in one of the least racially diverse countries in the world.

    Ms Miyamoto grew up in the city of Sasebo near a major US naval base, and her father is an African-American man from Arkansas. She also travelled to the US to go to high school – and some in Japan think all that makes her unfit to represent the nation of her birth.

    At 6ft tall in heels, Ms Miyamoto told CNN’s Will Ripley she had always stood out in Japan and that when she was young she was bullied for being different. “In school people used to throw rubbish at me,” she said. “They also used racial slurs.”

    In Japan, mixed-race people are known as “hafu”, and after Ms Miyamoto was selected as Miss Universe Japan last week social media users have been asking if it is “ok to choose a hafu to represent Japan?”

    According to a translation by the Washington Post, one posted a picture with the caption: “The contradiction that is having a haafu Miss Universe Japan.”

    Another said: “Even though she’s Miss Universe Japan, her face is foreign no matter how you look at it!”

    And a third user tweeted: “Beauty contest. Miss Universe Japan is….wha? What kind of person? She’s ….not…..Japanese…right?”

    The view on the ground in Tokyo was similar. Shown a picture of Ms Miyamoto and asked if she could be the country’s Miss Universe contestant, a middle-aged resident named Ishiko Komagawa said: “No, she doesn’t even look Japanese.”

    But that view spans generations – high school student Tomoki Nogami said Ms Miyamoto should not be accepted because “half is not 100 per cent Japanese”. “If someone is chosen as Miss Japan both her parents should be Japanese,” he said.

    The website Kotaku hailed Ms Miyamoto’s selection as a sign that change was occurring in Japan – if “slowly”. It noted that “many of the highest-rated comments” about Miyamoto on the Japanese site GirlsChannel “said that they wanted a more ‘Japanese’ contestant to represent Japan”.

    “However, not everyone thinks that way,” it said. “There were comments supporting her selection, with people saying that the only thing that matters is whether or not she’s a citizen and loves this country or whether or not she was born and raised in Japan.

    “Others said criticizing the selection because she wasn’t ‘Japanese’ enough was ‘pathetic’ and outdated thinking.”

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