Japan's 'Miss Contests' are hardly swimsuit competitions

Events teach skills useful for careers in media, entertainment and beyond

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20221224 contestants Sophian's Contest 2022.jpeg

Contestants for the Sophian's Contest 2022 at Sophia University: The girls and boys who enter these competitions are unabashedly ambitious. (Photo courtesy of Sophian's Contest 2022)

Stephen Givens is a corporate lawyer and an adjunct professor at Keio University Law School in Tokyo.

On the surface, the "Miss Contests" held at many Japanese universities may look like "skin deep" beauty contests that put "beauty over brains" and slot Japanese women into "rigid, gender-defined roles."

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