Will there be no Miss Japan 2024? Karolina Shiino relinquishes title after confirming affair with married man

Karolina Shiino, the Ukraine-born Japanese citizen who won the 2024 Miss Japan Grand Prix Beauty Pageant last month, has relinquished her title.

It comes as the aftermath of a Japanese weekly magazine, Shukan Bunshun, claimed that the 26-year-old pageant winner had been in a relationship with a married doctor in its latest edition.

The revelation made by the magazine, which has a reputation for uncovering scandals, has led to Shiino falling fowl to the expectations surrounding beauty pageants – wherein the contestants should ideally lead blameless private lives.

After the article was published, Shiino returned her title and took to Instagram to share an apologetic message to her audience. Shiino stated how she had been too scared and confused to tell the truth, saying:

“I am truly sorry for the huge trouble I have caused and for betraying those who supported me. I take the situation seriously and have relinquished the Miss Japan Grand Prix title.”

Having moved to Japan from Ukraine as a 5-year-old, Karolina Shiino became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2022 and was the first woman of European descent to have won the honor of becoming Miss Japan.

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Following Karolina Shiino's resignation, there will be no Miss Japan in 2024

Karolina Shiino posing, with a cat - left, alone in a cultural Japanese attire - right (Image via Instagram/@karolina0824)

Shukan Bunshun released the article about Karolina Shiino having an affair with a married doctor on January 31. The organizers of the beauty pageant first reacted to the news by calling it untrue.

The Guardian reports that Japanese media reporters said that the organizers later backed Shiino, revealing that Miss Japan had informed her modeling agency that she was unaware of the man's marriage and had ended their relationship after learning of it.

However, on February 5, Shiino’s modeling agency announced confirming that Shiino had continued to see the man. The very same day, Shiino took to her social media to share the news of returning her Miss Japan title and apologizing to her supporters for having betrayed them.

Following her statement, the Miss Japan Association reported that they had accepted Karolina Shiino’s title resignation after she had apologized for misleading them.

The association also stated that the Miss Japan title would remain vacant for the rest of the year, despite the presence of several well-deserving runners-up on the pageant’s finale.

Several netizens have taken to X to react to the announcement of Shiino relinquishing the title she won in the beauty pageant. Some are calling the whole incident “pageant drama heating up,” while others are claiming that it was her affair with a “married and influential Japanese man” that led to her victory in the pageant.

Here are the X reactions about it:

Shiino’s victory in the pageant earlier in 2024 also elicited a mixed response from the netizens. Some criticized her for her European looks, while others supported her for redefining what it meant to be Japanese in a country with 3 million recorded foreign citizens.