And there’s been an uproar online about her looks… her “non-Japanese” looks.

Priyanka Yoshikawa feels like she represents modern Japan. She was born in Tokyo to her Japanese mother and Indian father, and grew up living in India, California and Japan. Her hobbies include kickboxing, traveling, reading and art.

In addition to being a licensed art therapist, she works as a model, a translator, volunteers as a medical interpreter, and oh, did we mention she also has an elephant trainer’s license?

▼ Watch out most Interesting Man in the World, you have a rival coming up.

https://twitter.com/Miss_priyanka20/status/769043192771645440

Priyanka was recently chosen out of a pool of 31 finalists to represent Japan at the 2016 Miss World beauty contest. While that’s certainly another accomplishment to add to her already impressive life resume, what’s polarized the Japanese internet is the fact that Priyanka is a “half,” someone of half-Japanese parentage.

Last year, when half-Japanese Ariana Miyamoto was crowned Japan’s Miss Universe contestant, there was an ugly racist backlash about it. People questioned how someone who wasn’t “pure” Japanese could possibly represent Japan, and some slurred insults such as “She has too much black blood in her to be Japanese.”

This year, as expected, there was criticism about Priyanaka and the judges that chose her as well:

▼ “Why do they only ever pick ‘halfs?'”

https://twitter.com/disneycruise200/status/772708938450022400

▼ “Does Japan really need to participate in these Miss. World things? Our sense of beauty is different than the West, so it seems like you can’t win unless you’re a half or covered in makeup.”

https://twitter.com/123vai83/status/641236379062501376

▼ “I’m not trying to be racist here, but it seems like recently these contests have given priority to half contestants. I’d like to see what criteria the judges are making their selection on.”

https://twitter.com/cyokuri/status/772954635879321600

Yes, the fact that one half-Japanese contestant in the past 60 years has been selected for Miss World and one half-Japanese contestant in the past 18 years has been selected for Miss Universe means the judges are obviously biased.

Despite the naysayers, this time around things are a bit more evenly balanced for Priyanka. It seems just as many online are happy about the decision:

▼ “Priyanka Yoshikawa, congratulations on the grand prix win!”

▼ “She has an elephant trainer’s license? That’s cool.
Good luck at the competition and congratulations!

▼ “Even in Miss. America, it’s not uncommon for someone of Mexican, Italian, or whatever descent to win. If Japan’s representative is a ‘half,’ that doesn’t make her any less beautiful.”

https://twitter.com/Byuzu0301/status/576237151798501376

▼ Agreed! How could anyone say bad things about
someone hanging out with their mom like this?

https://twitter.com/Miss_priyanka20/status/772233305412349952

There’s only a few months left before the Miss World competition this upcoming winter. Will Priyanka manage to dazzle the judges there as she did in Japan? We can only hope. Be sure to give her a follow on Twitter if you want to keep up with what she’s doing.

Although would it be too much to ask of her to do an elephant training routine on stage? Now that would be a way to earn major points with the internet.

Source: Naver Maome, The Hindu
Featured/top image: Twitter/Miss_priyanka20