Newly crowned Miss World Japan Priyanka Yoshikawa has credited the Indian side of her heritage for her pageant success, in the face of ongoing debate over who should qualify as beauty queens representing Japan.
There has been an ongoing debate in Japan over the ethnicity of beauty queens after the first bi-racial Miss Universe Japan, Ariana Miyamoto – whose father is African American and mother is Japanese – was criticised by some on social networks for not looking Japanese enough.
Born to an Indian father and Japanese mother, 22-year-old Yoshikawa has lived in the United States and India as a child, but calls Japan her home.
Yoshikawa spent a year living in Kolkata when she was nine – an experience she says had transformed her life. Seeing poverty up close as a child shocked her, but motivated her to make a difference.
(With inputs from AP)
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
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