(Tokyo) Miss Japan 2024, already at the center of a controversy when she won her title for being born in Ukraine and not in the archipelago, gave up her crown after revelations about an extramarital affair.
In January, the election of Karolina Shiino provoked debate when Japanese, mainly from the conservative right, challenged the choice of a naturalized Japanese woman to represent Japan’s standards of beauty.
But now a scandal, this time affecting his private life, broke out after the revelations in the weekly Shukan Bunshun on an extramarital affair – a prohibition for Misses who must embody perfect morality – that Karolina Shiino would have with a married doctor.
The 26-year-old young woman wanted to apologize “deeply” for this story.
“First, I didn’t want to tell the truth because of the chaos and out of fear… I apologize to those who believed in me and supported me,” Karolina Shiino said on the social network on Tuesday Instagram.
“I consider that the situation is serious and I therefore renounce the title of Miss Japan,” added the one who has lived in Japan since the age of 5.
The Miss Japan Committee accepted Ms.me Shiino to surrender his crown for “personal reasons”, adding that the title would remain vacant this year.
His victory at the start of the year caused a debate, due to his very visible Caucasian roots.
“It doesn’t matter whether she’s Jewish-Ukrainian or not, but I don’t accept her personality. Why is she Miss Japan? “, for example, a user asked about X.
Others are speaking out in his defense today.
“You have the Japanese spirit. I don’t think a private life issue should force you to give up, but it’s Japan…”, regretted this other X user in response.
Miss Japan, whose first title was awarded in 1950, rewards “Japanese-style beauty”, that is to say made up of “inner beauty, physical beauty and beauties in actions”, describes the committee on its website.
In Japan, a very conservative country, personalities from the world of entertainment or show business who have affairs, who take drugs or are involved in scandals, are often rejected by their fans and their employers.