Critics slam mixed-race Miss Universe Japan for not being Japanese enough

She's representing Japan in the Miss Universe 2015 contest.

But not everyone is a fan.

Since her win, Miss Ariana Miyamoto, 20, is facing criticism for not “looking Japanese” enough.

Her mother is Japanese and she has an African-American father. Raised in Nagasaki, Japan, she studied in the US for her studies and returned to Japan to pursue a career in modelling.

PHOTO: Facebook/ Miss Universe Japan

The 1.73m beauty is called hafu (meaning half-Japanese or biracial) because of her mixed ethnicity.

And detractors are hurling brickbats on various social media platforms, The Washington Post reported.

Twitter user @sabu_love_a wrote in Japanese:

PHOTO: Twitter screengrab

Here's the English translation:

“Is it ok to choose a haafu to represent Japan? Sometimes the criteria which they use to select Miss Universe is a bit of a mystery."

Another Twitter user with handle @2ygravity wrote that there is a “contradiction” in choosing Miyamoto because she is “a haafu.”

Other critics said that even though Miyamoto is Miss Universe Japan, “her face is foreign no matter how you look at it!”

PHOTO: Twitter screengrab

Though Miss Miyamoto has received a lot of criticism because of her mixed race and different facial features, she has also received an equal amount of support, Japan's Rocket News 24 reported.

She idolises singer Mariah Carey and compares herself to the “Hero” singer.

Carey faced a lot of “racial hurdles” in her career and “overcame them and became a top star,” she told the website.

Sources: Washington Post, Rocket News 24, Twitter, Facebook