Miss Universe Japan 2018 was not held with pomp and glory it had seen the last time a lady was crowned. On March 19, 2018, in a quite low profile ceremony in Tokyo, at Hotel Chinzanso, one of the aspiring contestants of the pageant was crowned Miss Universe Japan 2018.
20 years old, Yuumi Kato was brought up in Malaysia and stands 5 feet 6 inches tall. The newly crowned beauty queen is well versed in four languages, Malay, English, Chinese and Japanese. After being crowned Miss Universe Japan, Yuumi greeted her fans in all the four languages.
Japan won the Best in National Costume last year at Miss Universe. The country’s last placement dates back to 2015 when Ariana Miyamoto placed as the Top 10 semi-finalist at Miss Universe 2015, which was eventually won by Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of Philippines. Japan has won two Miss Universe crowns under the representation of Akiko Kojima, who was crowned as Miss Universe 1959 and Riyo Mori, who was titled as Miss Universe 2007.
(Photo Credits Yuumi Kato Official)
The ladies that ended up as the runners-up, just a few steps away from the crown, were Hokkaido and Niigata, from Tokyo, the host city.
When the Miss Universe Japan pageant was founded in 1998, it was run by French national director Ines Ligron. Currently, sources say that the national director for the pageant is Miss Universe Japan 2008 Hiroko Mima.