Photos: Black Miyamoto who won Miss Japan fights for race revolution

Ariana Miyamoto’s selection to represent Japan in the Miss Universe competition has garnered a mixture of criticism and support. The 21-year-old’s mother is Japanese and her father is African American.

Ariana Miyamoto has always been different.

Born in Japan to a Japanese mother and African-American father, Miyamoto stood out as a mixed-race girl in racially homogeneous Japanese society. She experienced bullying at a young age; Miyamoto told CBS News in a recent interview that other children would throw garbage at her or tell her not to touch them for fear that her darker skin would rub off on them.

Ariana Miyamoto typically maintains the sort of deferential politeness you’d expect from a beauty contestant in a country that embraces formality.

And yet, the biracial beauty queen — who was crowned Miss Universe Japan in March and then immediately criticized for not being Japanese enough — has signaled her willingness to fight back against racism and other traditional attitudes that have led to criticism and even discrimination in the wake of her selection.

In an interview with Agence France Presse, a newly assertive Miyamoto — the daughter of a Japanese woman and an African American man — referred to herself as “stubborn” and said she intends to use her burgeoning fame to break down antiquated cultural barriers.

 [Why some critics think Japan’s Miss Universe contestant isn’t Japanese enough]

Ariana Miyamoto in Tokyo on May 7. (Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images)

“I was prepared for the criticism,” the 21-year-old model told AFP. “I’d be lying to say it didn’t hurt at all. I’m Japanese — I stand up and bow when I answer the phone. But that criticism did give me extra motivation.”

"I used to get bullied as a kid but I've got mentally stronger, to protect myself."

The criticism stems from the fact that in Japan, Miyamoto is known ashafu (or haafu) — a word that refers to multiracial or multiethnic people who are half-Japanese. And there is a pervasive feeling in Japan, which is considered one of the most homogeneous places on Earth, that mixed-race people are not fully Japanese, according to NBC News.

“It’s possible that some conservative people might feel Ariana Miyamoto doesn’t fit the traditional Japanese image to represent the country,” Yoko Haruka, a psychologist who makes regular appearances on Japanese TV, told AFP.

“It’s just the shock of the new. But she certainly has the chance to be a pioneer, and it’s an excellent opportunity for Japan to become more globally aware.”

After Ariana Miyamoto's victory in March, many critics complained the Miss Universe Japan title  

The stigma of being biracial in Japan can be so great that it leads some people — like a close mixed-race friend of Miyamoto’s — to take their own lives. Though Miyamoto was bullied growing up in the port town of Sasebo in Nagasaki prefecture, she told AFP that it was her friend’s suicide that ultimately convinced her to enter the Miss Universe Japan contest.