The Electric New Paper
JAPANESE DANCER WINS MISS
UNIVERSE
31 May 2007
WITH her beauty, Miss Japan/Universe Riyo Mori looks like anyone's
dream girl.
And on Monday, when she won the beauty contest, she proved in her
first moments as MissUniverse that she had the poise to go with her
good looks.
When MissUniverse 2006 Zuleyka Rivera crowned her during the finale
in Mexico, the diamond-and-pearl-studded crown slipped off her
head.
Miss Mori caught the crown and immediately placed the headpiece -
valued at US$250,000 ($382,000) - back on her head.
In an interview hours after she was crowned, the 20-year-old dancer
said she would not change in her new role.
She said yesterday she will be true to herself in her year-long
reign fighting the spread of HIV/Aids as Miss Universe.
Under pageant rules, women crowned Miss Universe become advocates
for HIV/Aids research and education.
'I don't want to be acting,' said MissMori, wearing a shimmering
silver dress. 'I just want to be myself, always be natural.'
The new Miss Universe also criticised crash dieting.
'I had a friend with an eating disorder. She always looked unhappy.
She was never confident about her body, even though she was so
thin,' she said. 'For me, it's so easy... Eat right.'
The only other time Japan has won the pageant was in 1959, when
MissAkiko Kojima became the first MissUniverse from Asia. Since
then, several women from the region have worn the crown.
Said Mr Donald Trump, who co-owns the pageant with NBC: 'She is an
amazing champion, an amazing woman, and I hear that they go totally
insane in Japan, so that's good.'
Miss Mori, from the small town of Shizuoka at the base of Mount
Fuji, won the cheers of the Mexico City audience when she opened
her interview with 'Hola, Mexico!'
'I learnt how to always be happy, be patient and to be positive,
and this is what I want to teach to the next generation,' she said
during the interview competition.
The daughter of a dance school operator, Miss Mori said her
grandmother told her as a child that she wanted her to be Miss
Japan before she turned 20.
She wants to someday open an international dance school in
Tokyo.
