・What are your interests and what do you enjoy doing the most?

I am crazy about sports, especially basketball which I have been playing since I was a child. I have also been a competitive high jumper since junior high school. I enjoy hanging out with my friends and love animals. Relaxing with my family and watching DVDs is always nice too.

・List any special training you have had？ (music, art, drama, dance, etc.)

Horse Riding, Abacus, Kendo, Piano and a traditional folkdance style from my hometown of Tokushima called “Awa Odori”

・In what sports, if any, have you participated and how long have you participated in each sport?

Basketball-since elementary school

High Jumping-since junior high school (record of 1.65m jump)

Hot Yoga-my latest challenge!

・Name one person, other than your parents, who has had the most influence on your life. Why?

Ines Ligron, National Director of Miss Universe Japan. Ines trained Kurara Chibana (First Runner Up Miss Universe 2006) and Riyo Mori (Miss Universe 2007). Their success as Miss Japan had a lot to do with why I decided to apply to the Miss Universe Japan competition. Ines is simply amazing and has had such a positive and huge impact on my life since becoming a finalist in the Miss Universe Japan.

・What is your proudest personal accomplishment (other than representing your country in this pageant)?

That would be when I moved to Tokyo to enter university. By moving to Tokyo my life has changed so much through meeting many new people and experiencing so many new things that would never have happened to me had I stayed in my hometown of Tokushima.

・What is your career ambition?

I want to use my title as Miss Japan, and hopefully Miss Universe, to launch a career in the media industry where I hope to work as a sports reporter, sharing the joy of sports, one of my greatest passions and my subject of study in university, with the world. Also, because I dealt with a nerve disease called Guillain-Barr・syndrome in junior high school, I feel like I can empathize with children who are sick and hospitalized and want to use my career and fame to raise awareness and money through charity and speaking events for children’s hospitals. I am a believer in the therapeutic model of treatment espoused by Patch Adams and the Gesundheit Institute which emphasize the powerful connection between environment and wellness, especially for children in hospitals. This is a holistic model of treatment that I wish I had had access to when I was a sick child.

・Are you currently a student?

Japan University (Nihon University)

Kinesiology-Physical Education

・Have you completed secondary school?

Jonan High School, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan

・Describe where you were raised and what your childhood was like.

I grew up in Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan. Tokushima is rather rural and blessed with the natural beauty of the ocean, rivers and mountains. Growing up surrounded by such beautiful natural scenery, I was a very active child, always playing sports and games with my friends outdoors.

・List any volunteering you have done

Nursing Home

Autistic Children

Room to Read

Pink Ribbon

Japan Stop Aids

・Where is the most interesting place you have been?

historical buildings from the atomic bombing of World War II I saw in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the beautiful Buddhist temples which are World Heritage sites in Kyoto and Nara. Outside of Japan, I was amazed at Mont-Saint Michel in France, the Colosseum in Rome, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany and the historical sites in Salzburg, Austria. Visiting these places was truly a mystifying experience which made me think of what life must have been like in all these different places so many hundreds of years ago. It is really hard to put into words how visiting such historical sites makes me feel, but it is something I always enjoy.

・What makes you unique and different from the other contestants?

Unrelenting strength which I have gained through my many personal trials and challenges in life. This strength shows through in my personality and expression. Although on one hand I am merely a 21-year old university student from Japan who loves to play sports, I have gone through the experience of battling a nervous system illness as an adolescent and have dealt with the sudden deaths of my father, grandmother and uncle all in a short period of time. I have turned these trying experiences into a source of inner strength that I believe people can see in my eyes. This, I would say, is my uniqueness.

・What do you hope to be doing in 10 years?

I hope to be working as a high-powered sports reporter who brings the joy of physical activity to people both in Japan and around the world. Through doing this, I want to build upon my own physical struggle as a young woman and raise awareness and money for sick children through speaking engagements and charity events.

・Is there anything you would like to tell us about yourself, Something unique that has happened to you? Some interesting thing about you?

I think the most amazing thing that has happened to me is the fact that Hiroko Mima, a normal college girl from rural Japan who some may have considered a tomboy・of sorts because of my love for sports, became Miss Universe Japan 2008. Making possible the seemingly impossible has given me such hope and created new dreams and possibilities in my life. If I can do this, so can other young women. I want to share this message with other young women in Japan and around the world who are looking for positive role models and, for whatever reasons, may think that they are not beautiful. Becoming Miss Universe Japan has taught me how true beauty is a combination of intellect, curiosity and concern for the world and those suffering around us, and physical beauty that is refined through building greater self-confidence and knowing how to take care of one body and appearance.

・What do you want the judges to know about you?

I have loved sports since I was a child. I started playing basketball when I was in elementary school and then, after suffering a bone marrow disease that left the right side of my body incapacitated for 3 months when I was 13-years old, I was told that it would be very difficult to return to playing on my school basketball team. Wanting to keep engaged in sports, the track coach at my school suggested that I try out the high jump which he said wouldn’t require as much stamina and would probably be a possibility for me after I recovered from my illness. I have since become engrossed in high jumping and have competed 7 times at the Japan National Track and Field Competition. The impact of this physical struggle was later compounded when my father was suddenly killed in a car accident three years ago. I was close to my father and his unexpected death was a big shock to me. Despite the pain, my father death ended up bringing my family closer together and made me realize that we only live once and shouldn’t live with regrets. Since then, I try to seize every day as if it were my last and strongly believe in not hesitating to pursue my dreams and new challenges, such as I did when I applied to Miss Universe Japan. I am ready for the exciting and demanding challenge of both getting to know so many amazing women and competing with them here at Miss Universe.

SPECIAL THANKS TO Benjamin Aliveman for translating Hiroko’s interview into English.