Priyanka Yoshikawa was chosen as a winner from 31 finalists, not only by the jury but also by Internet voters. The new Japanese beauty queen was able to repeat Ariana Miyamoto’s success; Miyamoto, a half-African American contestant, represented Japan at the Miss Universe 2015 competition.
According to the contest’s director, Priyanka showed great result in every contest category. The jury believes that she is an ideal candidate for representing Japan at the Miss World 2016 beauty contest.
“I am very happy with the result. We think of her as a Japanese girl with a Japanese passport,” Tomoko Morikawa, the director of the beauty contest, told Sputnik.
“She definitely has a different appearance from other Japanese girls. But modern beauty standards are chosen by the public, we do not decide it. She passed in all of the contests, and she won the internet vote. Japan is probably in the process of changing its beauty stereotypes,” Morikawa told Sputnik.
As Morikawa explained, standards of beauty change with time, just as fashion and styles change over time.
“However, there is a standard of beauty, which remains unchanged. I'm talking about inner beauty, and how to convey it to people,” added the director.
“For me, beauty is how you live. Inner beauty is all that matters,” Priyanka Yoshikawa told Sputnik.
I am very honored to be chosen as Miss World Japan 2016 and would genuinely like to thank everyone who supported me. pic.twitter.com/qG92tV6ki9
— PriyankaYoshikawa (@Miss_priyanka20) 6 сентября 2016 г.
Priyanka has dedicated all her time to preparing for the Miss World 2016 contest, but continues to work as a translator. Through this, she receives an opportunity to “connect Japan with the other countries of the world.” And of course Priyanka is ready to fight to the finish.
“Of course I want to become Miss World 2016. I would say I feel positive about this competition because I am Japanese rather than Indian. All support, which I have thanks to my Indian roots, is of great importance to me. This is another reason for me to win this competition,” Miss Japan 2016 told Sputnik.
This year’s winner was chosen from 6,920 contestants, who submitted applications to participate in the Miss World Japan contest. Priyanka Yoshikawa is 176 centimeters tall, making her tall compared to most Japanese women. For 4 years, Yoshikawa travelled the world and is fluent in Japanese, English and Bengali.
According to Priyanka’s Twitter account, she was congratulated by representatives of the Indian Embassy in Japan. The Times of India published several articles about her Indian roots.
Priyanka Yoshikawa, 22-year-old woman of Indian descent, crowned Miss Japan https://t.co/DkDcWGuNlt
— The Japan Times (@japantimes) 5 сентября 2016 г.
