CBS News
Ukrainian-Japanese Miss Japan pageant winner Karolina Shiino returns crown after affair comes to light
Tokyo — The Ukraine-born winner of the Miss Japan pageant has relinquished her crown after a report emerged of an affair she had with a married doctor. Karolina Shiino’s nomination in January first sparked debate after some right-wingers questioned the title being awarded to a naturalized Japanese citizen. A scandal then erupted over her private life when weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported on her extra-marital relationship – taboo for beauty pageant contestants, who are held to squeaky-clean moral standards in Japan.
Japanese entertainment personalities who have affairs, dabble in drugs or suffer other scandals also often find themselves shunned by their fans and employers.
The Miss Japan Association said Monday that it had accepted a request from Shiino to return the crown for “personal reasons,” adding there would be no Miss Japan for 2024.
STR/JIJI Press/AFP/Getty
Shiino, who emigrated to Japan at the age of five, said she wanted to “deeply apologize” to those involved, including the man’s wife, on the same day her management agency said she had confirmed the affair.
At first “I couldn’t speak the truth due to chaos and fear… I apologize to those who believed in me and supported me,” the 26-year-old said on Instagram. “I take the situation seriously and have relinquished the Miss Japan Grand Prix title.”
In a statement Monday, Shiino’s agency said she told them she had begun seeing the man believing him to be divorced, but continued the relationship after learning he was still married.
The man involved, Takuma Maeda, is a social media influencer known online as the “muscle doctor,” who, according to The Associated Press, said on Instagram that he had no plans to leave his wife and offered an apology the trouble he’d brought Shiino and others. He promised to devote himself to his work, and his private life.
Women are often more heavily criticized over extramarital affairs in Japan’s deeply conservative, male-dominated culture.
Miss Japan, first held in 1950, is awarded for “Japanese-style beauty” consisting of “inner beauty, beauty in appearance and beauty of actions,” its website says.
After Shiino’s nomination attracted attention online, people quickly weighed in on social media.
“It doesn’t matter if she is Jewish-Ukrainian or not, but I can’t accept her character… Why is she Miss Japan?” one user wrote.
Others wrote in support of Shiino on her Instagram post, however.
“You have Japanese spirit. I don’t think such (a) personal private thing should be a reason for you to step down but this is Japan,” said a reply with nearly 350 likes.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.