海角大神

When Ariana Miyamoto was crowned Miss Universe Japan earlier this month, she met a public torn over her victory.

Born to a Japanese mother and an African American father, Ms. Miyamoto鈥檚 features reflect her mixed heritage, and they have caused some critics to voice concerns over whether a multiracial contestant could truly represent the East Asian nation in the prestigious pageant. Supporters, on the other hand, see her win as a step towards acceptance of multiculturalism in traditionally homogenous Japan.

鈥淓ven though she is Miss Universe Japan, her face is foreign no matter how you look at it!鈥� one person posted in Japanese on Twitter, .

The mixed reactions, which have spread online via social media and commentary, have revived dialogue about Japan鈥檚 openness to diversity and its treatment of people with multiethnic heritage such as Miyamoto, who are referred to as 鈥渉afu鈥� or 鈥渉aafu.鈥�

Part of the challenge facing advocates of multiculturalism in Japan is an ingrained concept of nation as racially distinct and homogenous 鈥� an idea whose roots go at least as far back as the mid-1600s, when the ruling Tokugawa shogunate decided to sequester Japan away from the rest of the world. Under Japan's "sakoku" policy, enacted in 1635, no foreigner could enter Japan and no Japanese person could leave, under pain of death.聽

"There鈥檚 a whole discourse on what鈥檚 called the Galapagos effect 鈥� that Japan, having been isolated from foreign influence, developed its own kind of insular norms and values," Kyle Cleveland, associate professor of sociology at Temple University鈥檚 Tokyo campus, .

It doesn鈥檛 help that despite growing numbers of foreign residents in Japan, the nation remains among the most culturally homogenous in the world, with identifying as non-Japanese.

About 5.5 percent of all marriages in Japan were of mixed race in 2004, and a majority of those were marriages between Japanese and other Asian nationalities, , which advocates dialogue about race, culture, and ethnicity in Japan. By comparison, in 2010 were interracial, according to a Pew survey.

In 2005, the United Nations that documented racial discrimination in Japan, noting how minorities were sidelined not only in economic and political structures, but also in culture and historical accounts. The report recommended, among other things, 鈥渢he recognition of the existence of racial discrimination in Japan, and the expression of the political will to combat it.鈥�

Taken together, these realities present a distinct challenge for someone like Miyamoto who, despite her mixed ethnic background, was raised in Nagasaki prefecture, speaks fluent, unaccented Japanese, and is an accomplished Japanese calligrapher, Tokyo-based news outlet .

Ariana is facing challenges that no other Japanese Miss Universe contestant to date has had to face, with those opposing Ariana voicing their dissent online with statements such as [sic] 鈥淪he has too much black blood in her to be Japanese.鈥�

Still, Miyamoto鈥檚 supporters have said her win speaks to changing perspectives in Japan.

For instance, while the popular Japanese site GirlsChannel, which allows readers to vote on comments, was replete with skepticism, some netizens said that 鈥渃riticizing [Miyamoto] because she wasn't 鈥楯apanese鈥� enough was 鈥榩athetic鈥� and outdated thinking,鈥� .

The 2013 film, 鈥�,鈥� also 鈥� for the first time 鈥� gave voice to the nation鈥檚 multiracial minority and explored what it means to be multicultural in a nation that once prided itself on its homogeneity and insularism.

Miyamoto鈥檚 victory speaks to that 鈥渆xpanding definition of what it means to be Japanese,鈥� Megumi Nishikura, the film鈥檚 co-director, .

"The controversy that has erupted over her selection is a great opportunity for us Japanese to examine how far we have come from our self-perpetuated myth of homogeneity while at the same time it shows us how much further we have to go,鈥� Ms. Nishikura added.