• Spanish Town Drowned in Tomatoes as 20,000 People Join Epic Food Fight

  Thousands of people from around the world descended on the Spanish town of Buñol to take part in the famous La Tomatina — the world’s largest annual “food fight.” For several hours, the town’s streets were transformed into a sea of tomatoes...

• Massage, Aromatherapy and “Hoof Care”: America Is Getting Its First Cow Spa for Humans

  Forget mud masks and cucumber slices. The latest wellness trend is inviting people to relax… like cows...

• “A Charming Oasis”: Island With Napoleonic Fortress Goes on Sale in the Venice Lagoon

  A tiny piece of land smaller than a football field has a rich history, but just how wealthy its future owner will need to be is being kept strictly under wraps. An island in the Venetian Lagoon, complete with its own Napoleonic-era fortress and lush gardens, is looking for a new owner....

• The Man Who Cycled 6,000 Miles for Love: The Incredible Story of P.K. and Lotta

  Six years ago in Gothenburg, documentary filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel received an unusual proposition. Two young people, a brother and sister named Karl and Emily von Schedvin, approached him and handed him a book...

• Billionaire at Center of Record $6.2 Billion Divorce Claims He Never Undressed or Had Sex With His Girlfriend

  A New Jersey financial tycoon at the center of what is reportedly the largest and most expensive divorce case in the state’s history is making some unusual claims about his personal life...

• Why Are We So Fascinated by Vampires? From Lestat to the Sexiest Bloodsuckers on TV

  Vampire Lestat has captivated fans around the world with his outrageous antics. But our obsession with sexy vampires goes far beyond forbidden love, bare torsos and a taste for LSD-laced blood, as The Guardian writes...

• Viral Park Kiss Costs Star Lawyer His Career

  A partner at prestigious law firm Wachtell Lipton who was caught passionately embracing a young colleague in Central Park is being forced to leave the firm. The viral video had already cost him a lucrative move to rival firm Gibson Dunn, sources told The Post...

• The end of humanity: What cash-crazed tech billionaires actually believe

  While some tech giants announce the dawn of a new era of superintelligence, others are buying castles in Ireland and building bunkers. What is the modern Silicon Valley elite actually thinking...

The foreign-born Miss Japan winner has renounced her title after a newspaper reported her affair with a married man, BI writes.

Model Karolina Shiino, 26, became the first woman of European descent to win the Japanese national beauty pageant on January 22. She was born in Ternopil, Ukraine, and became a Japanese citizen in 2022 after moving to the country at the age of five with her mother, who married a Japanese man.

Shiino's victory sparked controversy among social media users. Some accused the competition organizers of “whitening” the nation. Others suggested that Shiino's victory could be an opportunity to challenge traditional ideas about what it means to be Japanese.

The conversation about Shiino's heritage, however, came to an abrupt end when she announced plans to relinquish her title. This comes after local tabloid Shukan Bunshun reported that she was in a relationship with a married man.

The Miss Japan Association initially defended Shiino and said she did not know the man was married, BBC News reported. But then it retracted its previous statement, saying that the model admitted that she knew that her lover was married.

Shiino said she was relinquishing her title and regretting "the enormous trouble I caused and the betrayal of those who supported me." Her resignation is significant: it prematurely ends an important debate about Japanese identity that has not yet been resolved.

The model was criticized by some viewers who argued that she did not represent "true Japanese beauty," which is stated as the official goal of the Miss Japan Association, The Japan Times reported.

Meanwhile, others wondered whether Shiino was hindering the promotion of traditional Japanese beauty standards. “If the Miss Japan pageant is based on the concept of beauty, I personally would like it to be based on Japanese beauty standards,” historian Hiroe Yamashita wrote on X. “But with the emergence of Caroline Shiino, an (ethnic) Japanese girl has no chance of winning in keeping with modern beauty values.”

There is also the issue of cultural identity.

Even though Shiino has lived in Japan for more than 20 years, she said she didn't feel accepted as a Japanese citizen until she won the competition. In her acceptance speech, the model said there were "racial barriers" and "it was difficult to be accepted as Japanese."

Follow NEWS.am STYLE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram