A half-Indian contestant was crowned Miss Japan on Monday and will represent Japan in the Miss World beauty pageant later this year, although Priyanka Yoshikawa's victory has triggered complaints that a "pure Japanese" did not win.

Ms Yoshikawa - who is 22 and has a qualification in training elephants - was born in Tokyo to an Indian father and Japanese mother and was immediately asked what her victory meant one year after Ariana Miyamoto, another bi-racial contestant, put on the Miss Universe Japan tiara.

"Before Ariana, 'haafu' girls couldn't represent Japan", she told AFP, using the Japanese term for children born to mixed marriages.

"That's what I thought too," she added. "I didn't challenge it until this day. Ariana encouraged me a lot by showing me and showing all mixed girls the way.

"We are Japanese," she said. "Yes, I'm half-Indian and people are asking me about my 'purity'. Yes, my dad is Indian and I'm proud of it. I'm proud that I have Indian in me. But that does not mean I'm not Japanese".