Miss Universe Japan runner up winner Yuki Sonoda takes pride in her Filipino heritage.
The Filipino-Japanese beauty won the second runner-up title in the Miss Universe Japan 2020 during the coronation night on October 29, 2020, held at Yamano Hall in Shibuya-ku in Tokyo. The Miss Universe Japan 2020 title was won by Aisha Harumi Tochigi.
In her video bio for the pageant, the Manila-born beauty queen shared that her mother is a Filipina while her father is Japanese.
“My father is Japanese and my mother is Filipina, so I was raised in two countries,” Sonoda said. “So when I came to Japan, I really did not speak any Japanese words so I had a hard time. But I didn’t give up. Because of this, I can now speak three languages fluently and this became my power.”
Yuki’s advocacy focuses on women’s health awareness which happens to be personal to her after she herself underwent an ovarian cyst surgery in 2019.
“During that time, I realized that I could have prevented this by having an annual check-up. I’d like to use my platform as Miss Universe to tell everyone in the world how important it is to be healthy and use my language skills to be the voice of the people,” she shared.
Yuki shined in her red evening gown during the finals night when she successfully reached the Top 5 and eventually won as the second runner-up.
During the Question and Answer portion, she was asked: “What is the most memorable message you received from your family?”
There, the bi-racial candidate answered: “The memorable message I received from my family is ‘now or never.’
“When I was ten years old, I came to Japan. I didn’t know how to speak Japanese but my mother told me that it is now or never that you can speak. So I learned from that and became stronger.
“So I think that if we want to do something, it is now or never. And I want to spread the word that if you want to do something, it is now or never. Thank you.”
Prior to joining the Miss Universe Japan 2020, Sonoda competed in various beauty pageants in Japan for years.
The Filipino-Japanese law graduate from Rikkyo University became a candidate for Miss World Japan in 2015 and joined Miss Supranational Japan 2016 where she won first runner-up.
In 2017, Sonoda bagged the Miss Asia Pacific Japan and represented the Land of the Rising Sun at the Miss Asia Pacific International in that same year where she ended up as one of the Top 10 finalists.
Meanwhile, the Philippines has also staged a locked-in Miss Universe Philippines 2020 pageant in Baguio City and crowned Rabiya Mateo who aims to duplicate the feat of Catriona Gray in the Miss Universe pageant in 2018.
WATCH the full performance of Yuki Sonoda during the finals of Miss Universe Japan 2020 here and SEND congratulations to the Filipino-Japanese beauty queen.
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