Mari Nishihama, 20, a native of Oshima, an island located 100 km south of Tokyo, had always lived a peaceful, if somewhat uneventful, life in the small tourist resort town. But all that suddenly changed last fall, when town celebrities voted the local bank clerk Miss Oshima 2000.
Wearing the island's traditional kasuri-patterned kimono, Nishihama now makes frequent trips to the mainland, speaks before large audiences at fairs, meets politicians like Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and is photographed at the island's famous camellia festival.
"Until I won the contest, I was rarely concerned about my island," Nishihama says. "But now it's come home to me how dependent we are on tourism. I am more than happy to help promote the industry."