 The woman who has just been crowned Miss Japan 2024 is not Japanese marking a significant shift in the view of who is Japanese and the internet is debating about it. Ukrainian born model, crowned Miss Japan Sparks national identity debate. This coming soon tonight. We got to talk about it Andrew because a Ukrainian born Miss Japan rekindles an old question what does it mean to be Japanese of course Andrew the internet was split some people were disagreeing with it some people were agreeing with it other people were in the middle the conversation went all over the place so make sure you like subscribe and turn on your notifications but you know what there is not debate about oh that smaller sauce is almost sold out it is nearly almost sold out I repeat it's almost sold out so get yours now um David what is the general consensus from the internet about this story because I would say Ukrainian woman she won Miss Japan she's not of traditional Japanese blood but she identifies as Japanese she was raised in Japan since five years old I believe her parents were both Ukrainian moved to Japan her parents separated her mom remarried a Japanese guy which made her extra Japanese so her Japanese cultural knowledge her language fluency is very high because with the Japanese stepfather right so essentially got raised in a Japanese family in Japan um now she's 21 16 years old she considers herself Japanese so she won but it was kind of controversial with the fan base because the organizer of Miss Japan said she is more Japanese than we are oh so you think that statement kind of triggered people also she doubled down uh Miss Japan herself she says I am Japanese and I'm finally recognizes Japanese but I always felt Japanese right so all right let's just get into our quick thoughts Andrew do you care about beauty pageants obviously would you agree and this was a lot of comments on the internet the beauty pageant seemed to have a very political agenda more than they used to have because perhaps in the past beauty pageants were just about like who's the hottest mixed with a little bit of smarts and accomplishments and nowadays it's all about saying something about the world let me tell you this 2015 Ariana Miyamoto she is half black American and half Japanese she won Miss Japan she speaks Japanese fluently is now married to a Hong Kong guy so I'm saying a non-Japanese person or a well I guess she's half half black half Japanese but obviously she looks wise does look less Japanese but I'm saying I guess it's controversial because she's the this Ukrainian girl is the first fully non-Japanese blooded person to win Miss Japan but I'm saying this well don't Asians want to represent America at some point it's the same concept like but isn't it different because Japan is not an immigrant country on the citizen side it's 98 percent Yamamoto Japanese Yamato I'm sorry 2% I knew a real kid yeah but what if Japan is trying to send a message because David in 2015 a black half black half Japanese woman hafu hafu wins Miss Japan you know what happens after 2015 Naomi Osaka and Roy Hachimura blow up so who knows maybe it could start a trend maybe there's a trend of is this Japan just trying to be trendy or I mean not trendy in the sense of like in a gimmick sense but just trying to be you know how Japan really always been on something different than the rest of Asia like what I don't understand why people mad this is the thing I'm weirded out about why are people mad for Japan like this whole time worry some of all Japan so throwback so patriarchal oh my gosh the gender roles are so old oh my gosh they're so racist all such a homogenous country people say that about Japan all the time and here they are trying to raise up a Ukrainian girl as Miss Japan that can represent Japan in some way and then everybody's mad I'm like I don't know it's pretty progressive Japan's trying to change their ways now I don't know I agree with you that as Asian Americans if we were to consider Japan and the US very similar and obviously they have very close ties post world war two I would say that we should understand Carolina she knows situation yeah because we come to America people don't think we look like Americans and then we like adopt the customs and we want to just be accepted like everybody else right I have the same windows of opportunity yeah think of when the first like Asian girl was crown miss whatever state or miss America I'm sure that I think there's been Asian winners right so they're finally American it means something right yeah I mean honestly I'm not gonna think like a traditional Japanese person on this one but I could understand their right to feel how they want to feel anyway let's just get into the comment section somebody said she's full white I was following her on Instagram and I thought she was half this whole time how much of it is that she does kind of look a little Asian because Eastern European women they can have smaller eyes because there may be more influence I don't know they just look more Asian I feel like Eastern European I wouldn't say she looks super Asian let's be honest I even if you made me guess if I just saw a picture of her not knowing the context I wouldn't think she's any Asian like I wouldn't predict it so to me I think it more brings up this question of trans racial because she says she's Japanese she says she is but she's not of Japanese blood but she is of Japanese nationality and Japanese culture raised in a Japanese family but that's the same as me saying hey I'm American just like anybody else and they're like well but it's different because America was a immigrant country to begin with right obviously it belongs well I'll say this Native Americans I'll say this Japanese need some immigrants and they need to start picking which immigrants they want and I think that that's what the statement was that the pageant organizers were trying to say right maybe I think so I think they were trying to say something about the world and I don't I think beauty pageants are a low impact I mean like a low stakes high impact way to say something yeah because beauty pageants they don't really mean anything but you just get a bunch of hot girls together and then you pick one and then everybody's got to talk about it so yes it is a it is news I guess kudos to Japan always one step ahead in many innovative ideas somebody said now anime and manga is actually represented because they've been drawing those people to look white for quite some time and somebody just said this is the cost of being a puppet to the USA could a Japanese woman that wasn't born in Ukraine win miss Ukraine would that be acceptable hmm and or why do I mean we're talking about arguments going back and forth in the comment section of so many articles and videos 2030 why does every country have to behave the same why does every country have to behave the same I don't understand like I do get the argument when people are like well oh how can we let so many Chinese immigrants through but they know China doesn't let as many American immigrants through oh how come a Ukrainian girl can win miss Japan but a Japanese girl would never win miss Ukraine I wouldn't say never but yeah obviously the more developed of a country you are and the more you also need immigrants and the more like progressive you are as a nation the more likely you're going to let different people in to represent and more that other people are going to want to come in and assimilate to your society well right Japan by all means by all analytics you could say it's number one or number two only to the US in the world yeah I mean think of how many people in the American army are not even technically American yet like they don't even they're not even American pass they're not even citizens yet then they're fighting for our country so right somebody just said all beauty pageants are rigged nowadays it's either rigged by rich families rigged by sponsors or rigged by essentially political agendas we already addressed that like I said it's not a bad place to say something though that I think the internet comments are just like you either agree with what the pageant like controller is trying to say or you disagree with it but I don't think anybody really takes beauty pageants that serious because like was it better when it was just about being hot well David David what's the number one way to get people to hear your message if you have a message make a splash have a hot girl say it easy um somebody said all the rich countries are going to have to give up their identity for poor countries in this case it's interesting though because she's from a white looking poor country versus a asian looking rich country that that is that does make it interesting though somebody said to add insult to injury she's very average looking too wide inch they pick an even hotter Ukrainian girl some people are saying yes it's because they want obviously to drum up political support for Ukraine right now globally maybe I don't know man I mean I don't know if that's the reason maybe that was a side reason possibly yeah um somebody said you don't even have to be a biological female to win the Miss Universe pageant so this should be acceptable if that is uh yeah uh there's there was a bunch of discussion about oh she only won because she has the most westernized features and Japanese tend to idolize westernized features I don't think that's true I think this comments off I think they do though I disagree with this a lot though I don't think that's the reason why you don't think that but I'm saying I don't think they're like oh this uh Caroline has the biggest eyes uh and the biggest nose so we must have her represent Japan and that's how people win but do you agree that that's what they want from their models in general that's why there's a lot of pressure on models to get bigger eyes and uh I guess what fake noses in Asia there's a lot of different types of models out there nowadays you guys know come on they're not they don't all look the same um some people were saying Iwata who set up the pageant saying she is more Japanese than we are was a controversial statement uh I think what she means is that she's had to proactively try harder because she was born into another culture to try to become something I mean anytime you have to proactively try to become something in a cognizant way it's different than somebody who's just like organically developing that one way inherent you know to wrap this all up David I think this should be a very inspiring story for any otaku out there for all those weebs and otakus out there that love Japanese culture this should be inspiring because you can be Japanese now they did there is an actual pathway for non-Japanese blooded people to be seen and viewed as Japanese or to be recognized as Japanese by the mainstream so well but that doesn't mean that the mainstream agrees with it no like a macro internet distribution but you should be inspired by the story if you love Japanese culture hey there's a window there's a pathway for you to be Japanese possibly right I mean and who knows maybe this is like an indication of what their immigration patterns are going to be like in the future because nobody knows what's like I said man after the black girl won it the half black and half Japanese girl of 2015 Naomi Osaka Roy Hachimura that was on trend ultimately I'll say this I respect everybody's opinion everybody's gonna have different opinions on this I happen to think this is a trivial issue but I could see people drawing more serious conclusions from it but at the end of the day I feel like if we are to look at Japan like we look at America we have to understand her situation Carolina she knows situation because that's the situation we somewhat are in possibly even more so the Asians to Europe obviously more than America because you can argue the whole like precedent of America is completely different fundamentally Japanese immigration is just where like American immigration was in like the 1800s so they just got a ways to go though but they're gonna let more immigrants in eventually let us know what you guys think in the comment section below uh interesting discussion it's not that serious but some people clearly have some fired up feelings about it let us know what you think in the comment section below until next time we to hop on boys be out peace