A half-Indian beauty queen with exotic looks and an elephant trainer's licence has been crowned Miss Japan.
Ms Priyanka Yoshikawa's tearful victory comes a year after Ms Ariana Miyamoto faced an ugly backlash for becoming the first black woman to represent Japan, as critics complained that Miss Universe Japan should instead have been won by a "pure" Japanese rather than a haafu - Japanese for "half" - a word used to describe those of mixed race.
"Before Ariana, haafu girls couldn't represent Japan," Ms Yoshikawa said after winning the title. "That's what I thought too... Ariana encouraged me a lot by showing me and showing all mixed girls the way."
Talent always wins!
