Hiroko Mima
Biography. Mima currently attends Nihon University and her major is physical education. Mima suffers from a bone marrow disease which left the right side of her body incapacitated for three months when she was 13 years old, and a nerve disease called Guillain–Barré syndrome in junior high school. Since then Mima has returned to sports and competed seven times at the Japan National Track and Field Competition. She competes in the track and field team with a high jump of 1.65 m, approaching her own height of 1.73 m. Shortly after losing her grandmother, who died when  she slipped on the bathroom floor, Mima lost her father in a car accident before winning Miss Universe Japan 2008. Miss Universe Japan. Hiroko Mima, as a 21-year-old physical education student from Tokushima in Western Japan, was crowned Miss Universe Japan 2008 on April 3, beating out nine other finalists and a total of about 4000 entrants. Staged at the Tokyo International Forum, the final competition featured a "Fashion Island" performance. The nine other contestants who competed against Hiroko Mima were: Kana Anan, Sayo Yamaguchi, Yukari Honna, Moe Aoki, Yuri Horita, Rui Watanabe, Yoshimi Sato, Chie Hirai and  Azusa Nishigaki. Miss Universe 2008. She was the official representative for Japan at the Miss Universe 2008 pageant which took place in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. She made the first cut by advancing to the top 15 finalists competing in the swimsuit round, and was ultimately placed in 14th position, being the highest placed Asian delegate to make the cut. Hiroko Mima was trained for the pageant by her national pageant director Ines Ligron, who also took Korea's candidate Sun Lee under her wing. Mima continued Japan's stake in the Miss Universe pageant by placing  in the semi-final for a consecutive third time, despite not being favoured by numerous pageant sites as a potential semi-finalist. Hiroko was the first contestant in the history of Miss Universe to wear a purse during the evening gown portion of the presentation show. In 2009, Mima placed in the Globalbeauties.com top 32 Grand Slam Beauties. Miss Universe Japan National Director. Hiroko Mima is now the National Director of Miss Universe Japan as of 2018. Mima have previously trained Emiri Miyasaka for Miss Universe 2009.