There are a few things to keep in mind:<p>1) Ariana Miyamoto was chosen as Miss Japan by Japanese people.<p>2) The critics of Miyamoto are an extreme, vocal minority on Twitter and 2chan.<p>3) Although Japanese contestants often perform well at the international level, beauty pageants of this sort do not receive much attention within the country regardless of the contestant.<p>4) "Hafu" is a Japanese word derived from the English "half". It is used to refer to biracial people, but there is no connotation that they are "half" a person. I cannot understand the logic of the author who says that the word sounds derogatory in English -- it's a Japanese word, after all, and is not derogatory in Japanese.<p>The author uses point (2) as well as his short personal experience in Japan to make broad statements to the effect that Japanese people in general do not accept those whose appearance differs from their own. Japan makes an easy target in this regard because of the well-known (outside Japan, at least) concept of Nihonjinron, as well as the persisting sense that Japan is an isolated country where outsiders will never be accepted into the "in group". Due to this, there is an expectation (particularly in foreign media) that Japanese are racist, and any proof, even that of an extreme minority on Twitter, is taken as evidence in support of this.<p>Of course, living in Japan, I remember hearing similar broad statements about racism in the United States concerning the backlash against electing a black president in 2008.<p>The real lesson here is that we should not be basing our impressions of an entire society on a vocal minority, no matter how much their opinions conform to our expectations.
> <i>There is no word like hafu outside Japan, but I think we need it here.</i><p>Welp, she's Japanese alright, she's even mastered <i>nihonjinron</i>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonjinron" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonjinron</a><p>But more or less the same concept elsewhere:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapa" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapa</a> (Hawaiian, and another loan from the English "half")<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luk_khrueng" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luk_khrueng</a> (Thai for "half child")<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%BAnxu%C4%9Br" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%BAnxu%C4%9Br</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mestizo" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mestizo</a>
Finland, another country that's traditionally been very isolationist -- before the EU came along, it was second only to Albania in having the fewest % of resident foreigners -- had its own version of this in 1996, when a Finn of half-Nigerian descent was chosen as Miss Finland:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_Wallinkoski" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_Wallinkoski</a>
How is this different from when Miss America 2014 was crowned? (<a href="http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/09/first-indian-american-miss-america-has-racists-very-very-confused/69439/" rel="nofollow">http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/09/first-indian-am...</a>)
This entire article is about stereotyping, and the third paragraph is rife with the authors own stereotypes.<p>"My confusion lasts only until Ariana opens her mouth. Suddenly everything about her shouts out that she is Japanese, from the soft lilting tone of her voice, to her delicate hand gestures and demure expression."<p>What is this trash.
This is only just now making BBC news? This took place ages ago.<p>It's not uncommon for vocal minorities (ie. nationalists who take some pride in being "pure" to their race. Not necessarily in a "nazi like" way) to speak up when a "half" wins a contest that is supposed to represent them as a people. If you read through the comments on this thread you'll find several other examples from different nations about this very same problem.<p>How can you say a 50% Japanese person represents a 100% Japanese person? They are not representative of a 'Japanese person' if they are not fully Japanese!<p>That is the logic of the nationalists. Does it sound racist? Yes. Is it racist? To most people, probably... especially to PC-minded liberals. Do I consider it racist? Not really, but it brings a host of its own problems regarding these sorts of contests.<p>How would a ハフ compete in beauty contests? Would there be "African-Japanese" classification? What about people who are a mix of 3 races? 4 races? Do we have to do genetic fingerprinting? Would it be based on a majority of which race you are?<p>Who cares if she was "selected by Japanese people"? A democratic vote does not guarantee 100% of the people agree with the decision. Let's say she won with a 95% approval rating. That means 5% of the people who voted are either unhappy or neutral that she won. If that 5% is vocal of their disapproval... that's to be expected? Her being selected by Japanese people for the contest does not mean there won't be a vocal minority opposed to it.
<i>> There is no word like hafu outside Japan,</i><p>uh, what? how about "half", the exact word that 'hafu' is supposed to emulate? you can't borrow a word from another language, and then claim it's unique to yours!<p>i'm fairly confident nearly everyone on earth knows what it means to be 'half', or just mixed race/ethnicity in general. in fact there are even places on earth where mixed race is the norm. try going to brazil. FUN FACT: the largest japanese population outside of japan is there. i think they might have a concept of hafu there. <i>just maybe</i>.<p>if you're paying attention, i think the above statement tells us more about japanese culture than the entire article, on many levels.
Who exactly is a Tanzanian were questions that were also asks also when a Tanzanian of indian descent[1] represented Tanzania in international beauty pageants.<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richa_Adhia" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richa_Adhia</a>
well, at least the Japanese dont call their country's beauty pageant winners terrorists.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Davuluri#Response_and_significance" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Davuluri#Response_and_sign...</a>