On May 29th, Japanese Mori Riyo was crowned Miss Universe, the first winner from Japan since 1959. While Mori is most definitely beautiful, I can’t help but feel that she’s not the most beautiful woman in the world (my mum is!) , and it seems most people share my view. Even the bookies gave her only a 150-1 chance of winning.
Although I still see Miss Universe as a beauty pageant, these days the judges look for much more. Perhaps Miss Mori’s language skills helped her beat off the challengers – she can speak an impressive six languages, and she’s only 20 years old!
Miss Universe is co-owned by American business tycoon Donald Trump, and after her victory he said…
“She is an amazing champion, an amazing woman and I hear that they go totally insane in Japan, so that’s good.”
Excuse me? Totally insane? Yeah, about as insane as when Vista was launched in Japan. The Japanese population could possibly be the most reserved in the world. They don’t express much emotion, and with the exception of a few extremists and those that appear on crazy TV game shows, the general reaction to any big news is often quite subdued. In fact, baseball crazy Japan celebrates it’s sporting victories with discounts at department stores, not huge parties in the streets.
So, it was no surprise that many Japanese didn’t even know Mori had won Miss Universe, and those that did, although proud, debated her beauty and compared her with last year’s runner up, Chibana Kurara, rather than going totally insane.
Still, congratulations to Mori, she certainly has her fans, including our very own Michael McKinlay who I had this conversation with:
Mike: Mmm she’s hot! I totally want to date her
Nick: Yes, but the most beautiful woman in the universe? I think not. My mum is.
Mike: Ok, well sorry, but if I have to choose a date between your mom and Miss Japan… I’m gonna have to go with Japan!
