Nihonjin (Japanese)

“That big mouth, that gaudy face. Is this Miss Japan?” In 2015, Japanese Ariana Miyamoto won the Miss Universe Japan. Her victory, however, was unexpected: she hadn’t planned to enter a Japanese beauty contest because she thought that her multiracial origins meant she would be unable to win. Then a close friend, who was half Japanese committed suicide. After this tragic fact, Miyamoto, daughter of an African-American man and a Japanese woman, decided to participate. Her bronze skin and 173 cm of height are uncommon in Japan, the place she was born and raised. She took part in the contest and won, becoming Miss Universe Japan. The homogeneity of appearance is still an issue in Japan. With the project “Nihonjin (Japanese)”, my intention was to photograph young half Japanese people and let them tell their stories and share their experiences in a conservative and traditional country, that still refuses to fully recognize as Japanese citizens people who, apparently, don’t “fit” the standards that qualify someone as Japanese. After all, what does it mean "to look Japanese"?