Tourism ambassadors for Japan

Ironic that these tourism ambassadors to Japan are foreigners who are probably getting their fingerprints taken when they leave and come back. This is relevant in that although they are promoting japan and pose no threat they will still be treated no better.

It is likely that table is there to conceal a platform for the Minister. I've seen it done before.Old trick.

They must have very specific height requirements in that contest. But Mr Takagi is not wearing heels (we assume), so it's not really a fair fight.

Very true. Once you subtract the advantage the high heels give, the foreign women are still a bit taller than Shimomura-san and Takagi-san but the difference is nowhere near as bad as it appears here.

The honorable Takagi has learned his lessons well. Knuckles out for photo-shoot time. But that coffee table has to go.

People come up to me every day and ask, 'What happened to women's empowerment?'

...Masako Mori, November 2015

Perhaps the former cabinet minister should ask METI?

I'm not sure who's better looking, Takagi or Shimomura

On that note:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/miss-canada-says-china-is-blocking-her-from-miss-world-1.2424266

The Chinese-born Miss Canada, Anastasia Lin, has said that she believes that China is delaying her visa for the Miss World pageant on its southern island of Hainan because of her outspoken views on human rights.

A follower of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement which is banned in China, Ms Lin said officials have yet to send her an invitation for Miss World, the world’s oldest international beauty pageant.

She said she had yet to receive an official invitation letter to apply for her visa from the foreign affairs office in the city of Sanya, something her fellow contestants had already received.

She was crowned Miss World Canada in May, and afterwards said that her father, who still lives in China, was being intimidated by Chinese security officials at his home in Hunan.

“As a Canadian citizen I shouldn’t be afraid to speak my mind [and] by rejecting my candidacy, it’s sort of rejecting a whole country’s values,” Ms Lin, a 25-year-old actor, told the National Post newspaper.

miss kenya is my cup of tea! but they all are lovely ladies.

@gogogo to answer your question, they are called taxi drivers.

Why are they serving as tourism ambassadors for Japan and not their own countries? Is miss International only open to women living in Japan?

So no guys are allowed to be tourism ambassadors? Only "Miss" winners?

They must have very specific height requirements in that contest. But Mr Takagi is not wearing heels (we assume), so it's not really a fair fight.