A Ukrainian-born woman won the “Miss Japan” contest on Monday, despite having no Japanese in her genes.

Carolina Shiino won the Miss Japan Grand Prix and was chosen as “Miss Japan'' as the first naturalized Japanese citizen. BBC report.

Shiino moved to Japan at the age of five and was raised by foreign parents in Nagoya, the newspaper reported. The 26-year-old Ukrainian model's victory sparked a debate about who is classified as Japanese in the country.

This is Miss Japan 2024 pic.twitter.com/XPblnOTfAc

— Anika🎍 (@katorin_jou) January 24, 2024

According to the paper, Shiino's supporters said his coronation was a “sign of the times.” However, others took to social media to express their disapproval of a European woman winning a Japanese beauty pageant.

“This person who was chosen as Miss Japan is 100% pure Ukrainian, not even mixed race with Japanese people. I know she is beautiful, but this is “Miss Japan.'' What's so Japanese about it? ” one user wrote on Twitter.

“If she was half-Japanese [Japanese], Of course no problem. But she is not ethnically Japanese and she was not born in Japan,” another user commented.

A third user wrote, “I think Japanese people would naturally get the wrong message if a European-looking person was called the most beautiful Japanese person.''

When Shiino received the trophy, she said that winning the pageant was “a dream.'' According to the BBC, she previously wrote on her Instagram that “she may not look Japanese,” but that her upbringing in the countryside made her “Japanese.” she said. (Related: Biological human wins 'Miss Netherlands' beauty pageant)

According to the paper, contest organizer Ali Wada defended Shiino, saying he was “confident” the winner.

“She speaks and writes in beautiful and polite Japanese,” Wada said, according to the paper. “She's more Japanese than we are.”