Japan's Miss Universe breaks with timid tradition

---

TOKYO, Jun 11 (AFP): New Miss Universe Riyo Mori said Monday she had confidence in herself and knew she could win the title, unlike conventional Japanese women who are often seen as timid.
"I was determined to bring back the crown and sash to Japan," Mori, 20, told her first news conference since returning to Japan. "I knew I could do it."
The ballerina by training who teaches jazz dance at her mother's studio in Shizuoka near Mount Fuji last month became the second Japanese to be crowned Miss Universe, after Akiko Kojima in 1959.
"I was so happy and surprised that I don't even remember the moment" when her name was announced at the pageant in Mexico City, Mori said.
"When I walked on the runway with the crown, I was so thrilled because I had decided to myself during a rehearsal that I was the one who would walk here," she said, still wearing the 250,000-dollar crown on her head.