Japanese Miss Universe entrant Ariana Miyamoto faces racial backlash due to mixed ethnicity

The naming of 20-year-old Ariana Miyamoto as Japan's contestant in the upcoming Miss Universe beauty pageant has provoked a storm of criticism.

With an African-American father, Miyamoto's Japanese status is insufficiently "pure", according to some critics.

Miyamoto was crowned with the glittering tiara as the most beautiful woman in Japan on March 8, but it did not take long for internet commentators to question her ethnicity.

On the Girls Channel website, anonymous posters were expressing their disappointment.

"The idea is to have a Japanese representing Japan," wrote one poster.

"I think it's bad that a 'half' has become the Japanese representative," added a commentator, while another posted: "I don't understand this selection criteria."