Miss International 2012 Ikumi Yoshimatsu of Japan (center) is flanked by 2nd Runner-Up Madusha Mayadunne of Sri Lanka (left) and 1st Runner-Up Viivi Suominen of Finland.
Last year's Maria Fernanda Cornejo with brand-new winner Ikumi Yoshimatsu.
It took a little over five hours for the Board of Judges to make a final decision, but the patiently-waiting crowds at the Okinawa Prefectural Budokan in Onoyama Park (plus the tens of thousands watching the live stream) rejoiced (well, not all) with the selection of Miss International 2012 in the person of IKUMI YOSHIMATSU of host country Japan, who bested 68 other lovely candidates and became the first Japanese to win the title after many decades of hosting and participating in the same. She now succeeds last year’s winner, Maria Fernanda Cornejo. Coming close to winning the Mikimoto crown are 1st Runner-Up Viivi Suominen of Finland, 2nd Runner-Up Madusha Mayadunne of Sri Lanka, 3rd Runner-Up Melody Mir Jimenez of Dominican Republic and 4th Runner-Up Nicole Huber of Paraguay. Making up the rest of the Top 15 Finalists are Melissa Varon of Colombia, Rafaella Butarelli of Brazil, Paulina Malulu of Namibia, Bianca Aljibes of Venezuela, Alize Mounter of United Kingdom, Amanda Renee Delgado of USA, Nicole Schmitz of the Philippines, Jessica Garcia Formenti of Mexico, Rochelle Maria Rao of India and Anedie Azael of Haiti.
Special Awards went to the following ladies:
Miss Friendship – Ameeksha Dilchand of Mauritius
Miss Talent – Ekaterina Meglinskaya of Russia
Best National Costume – Nicole Velasquez of Honduras
Miss Internet – Nang Khin Zay Yar of Myanmar
Miss Photogenic – Ikumi Yoshimatsu of Japan
Miss JOICFP Award – Anedie Azael of Haiti
Ikumi Toshimatsu enjoying her first press exposure as Miss International 2012.
Congratulations to all the winners, most especially to Ikumi! 🙂
(Images courtesy of Miss International website)
Bikrista kunai wo (I AM NOT SURPRISED AT ALL)… IKUMI YOSHIMATSU is deserving to win Miss Internaitonal 2012…. OMEDETOU. NIHON Banzai…. Hajimete Miss International Nihon kara kimashita. (Mabuhay ang Japan, first time ever from JAPAN).
Anyway, not too many beautiful in this batch. At least PAERAGUAY-daijoo is 4 RU, and my other favorites, Colmobia-daijo and Firipin-daijoo made it to semi finalists! Omedetou!
Bikrista kunai wo (I AM NOT SURPRISED AT ALL)… IKUMI YOSHIMATSU is deserving to win Miss Internaitonal 2012…. NIHON Banzai…. Hajimete Miss International Nihon kara kimashita. (Mabuhay ang Japan, first time ever from JAPAN).
move on na… focus sa ms.earth 2012… sana sa atin na….ha.ha. gaya na teo sa japan,china,… CHINA-MS.WORLD 2012-host country,JAPAN-MS.INTERNATIONAL 2012-host country,,,, and now…. lets see!!!PHILIPPINES-MS.EARTH 2012-host country and USA-MS.UNIVERSE 2012-host country…. who will break the role USA or PHIL??? well who knows…..
dapat kasi hindi masyadong pinatagal ng mga (japanese) judges ang decision making nila,napaghalata tuloy na lutong sakang….anyway congrats japan!!!congrats din to our very own nicole..ikaw ang tunay naming MI 2012!!!
saka pansin ko lang ha,i dont know if others noticed also,parang rehearsed ang speech ni Ikumi(naglalaro tuloy sa utak ko may nagsabi kaya ganun ang pattern hehehe)peace!!!
Probably, the judges were divided. There were those who felt that the time has come for Japan to win, and then some who are still iffy about having the host delegate take the title. In the end, the yes votes won.
Norman — I’m not sure why Japan suddenly decided to break its 52-year old tradition of not giving the title to one of its own, but it finally did this time. After the pageant’s 6-year sojourn in China (now Japan’s declared political nemesis), Japan has indeed taken back ownership of its pageant — literally and figuratively — in a big way. Although I’m happy for the first Japanese ever Miss International, I certainly thought (and I’m sure many others also) that there were definitely several candidates who, in my opinion, were more deserving of the title. And here we were cheering that because the pageant was back in Japan, that it ensured a level playing field! I hope the pageant’s decision to crown its first Japanese titlist doesn’t dampen enthusiasm for the pageant or erode its credibility. But regardless of how one looks at it, any time a host country’s candidate wins, there is always that nagging suspicion and doubt in the back of one’s head as to what really went on with the judges’ panel. But I guess a cynic could say that if China can pull this off with Miss World, Japan can, too, with Miss International.
Miss Earth 2012 = Philippines, Miss Universe 2012 = USA…fair and square! don’t break the pattern! hahaha
Game over na ba? 🙂
😦
I want to give Nicole a big hug.
Likewise. 🙂