はじめまして小泉亜子と申します。
この度、無事ファイナリストとして選ばれたことを大変嬉しく思います。
私は現在２４歳で今年の９月までの４年半をアメリカ、カリフォルニアにて過ごし、
カレッジを卒業しました。ブロードキャスティングを本場で学び、目標はアメリカでも
活躍できるようなリポーターになることです。

私が今回MUJに応募したのには、いくつかの理由がありますがその一つは、
去年の知花くららさんを世界大会で見た友人の何気ない一言でした。私が住んでいたのは、
偶然にも世界大会が行われたハリウッドでその会場に居合わせた友人の一言” Ako, you are Japanese,
you speak English and you are beautiful! Why don’t you try? がなんと私をここまでこさせた
一番のきっかけとなったのです。

もうひとつの理由としてアメリカ留学を通して学んだグローバルな視点、語学力で日本の女性を代表し世界に
日本をアピールしたいと思ったのと、また近い将来は大きな舞台で活躍できるリポーターということもあり、
ミスユニーバースがとても素晴らしい機会になると考えた為でした。またＭＵＪがチャリティー活動に大変力を入れていると知り、
昔からいつも何か社会に貢献できたらと考えていた私にとってはこんなにいいチャンスはないと思ったからです。

そこからはMUJのDirector、イネス・リグロンとの出会いでした。面接時の彼女の私を見つめるとても強い目力は
今でも忘れられません。そして、私たちの姉のような存在であるＡｓａｍｉさん、個性の
強い方々に囲まれ、毎回成長していくことがとても楽しい毎日です。これから3月まで辛いことも沢山あると思いますが、
良き友人であり、ライバルでもある他のファイナリスト達と共に乗り越えていこうと思っています。You know who you are!

持ち前の明朗快活な性格と語学力、そしてコミュニケーション力を生かし、ミスユニバースジャパンとしての活動を
こなしていける自信があります。

最後に、女性としても外見だけではない美しさを表現できる世界的な目線から見た美しい女性に成長していきたいです。
宜しくお願い致します。Stay tune：）

In English

Hi everyone, my name is Ako Koizumi. I’m so honored to be one of the finalists for the 2007.
Words can’t explain how happy I got when I found out the announce of the finalists.
I just turned 24 about 2 weeks ago and also until this September I have lived in Los Angeles, California
about 4 years and half. I graduated from Santa Monica college and majored in Broadcasting;Communication.
My goal is to become a very successful reporter who can work both in Japan and United States or VJ for MTV
in New York.

There are a couple of reasons why I applied for Miss Universe Japan this summer.
The very first one is actually the words from my real good friend who was at the final in Hollywood coincidently.
The next day, he said to me “Ako, you are Japanese, you speak English and you are beautiful! Why don’t you try next year?”
Surprisingly the casual conversation we had actually made me come this far at this point.

Another reason is that through my experiences in the states and my language skill
I’ve always wanted to express about our beautiful country Japan to the world and I thought it’ll be
amazing if I could be the representation of Japanese women today and of course for my goal,
I think Miss Universe would be very helpful in order for me to get a reporter job in the States
later on. Also when I found out this thing that Miss Universe has been getting involved with lots of
charity work caught my eyes as I’ve always wanted to make a move to help people and the society,
but I wasn’t just too sure what I could do by myself. So all these reasons made me realized that this is it!
Miss Universe is what exactly I was looking for!

Meeting with Ines Ligron was also something I could never forget as I still remember her very strong eyes
when she was looking at me for the first time at MUJ office. I could tell that Ines is a very smart woman
who’s very passionate with what she’s doing…
I also knew that she would have a huge impact on my life which she has been already! Thank you!
I’d love to be the woman who’s beautiful inside and outside through this competition.
Also Asami has been very much involved with us from the day one. She is just like sister
for all of us. Thank you so much. I’m just so happy that we can grow each time we get together
as women and I know it’s not going to be always fun, but I’d love to get through and share
this great opportunity with my dear friends; rivals…
I mean the finalists. I feel like some of them have already became my best friends for life.
I’m so glad that we’ve met! You know who you are:) including my fantastic twin sister/ Best friend Kiko…haha!
I love you, but we are rivals now!

Lastly, I have perfect confidence in my ability of being Miss Universe Japan.
I’d like to thank all of you for reading my message, and promise I’ll do my 100% best.
Stay tune!

Akoxx