Kurara Chibana

Kurara Chibana (知花 くらら) is a Japanese TV correspondent and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Japan 2006 and competed at Miss Universe 2006 where she finished as the first runner-up.

Miss Universe 2006
Chibana participated in Miss Universe 2006 where she represented Japan. She won the Best National Costume Award for her samurai-themed outfit designed by the artist Yuichi Miyagawa and the designer Yoshiyuki Ogata, and was the first runner-up. During the final, Chibana wore a black evening gown exhibiting intricate latticework designed by Olivier Theyskens for Rochas, and at the preliminaries, Chibana sported a unique red and pink-hued gown with silver corseting designed by Novespazio.

Personal information
Chibana was an educational-philosophy student at Sophia University. She got her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2006. She turned down a job offer from a publishing company in order to compete in the Miss Universe Japan pageant, which was held on April 25, 2006, in Tokyo. Kurara now works as a feature reporter, flying around the world to interview people for a leading fashion magazine in Japan. She writes and takes photos of their lifestyles. She speaks four languages: English, Spanish, French, and Japanese.

Since October 2006, she has appeared regularly on the Nippon Television show "News Zero", reporting from both domestic and international locations, and launched her endorsement career as a spokesperson for more than four world-famous brands in 2007. She is the spokeswoman for Maybelline New York's Angelfit Make-Up. In late December, Global Beauties named Kurara as the Sexiest Woman Alive 2006, a title formerly held by Miyako Miyazaki.

In December 2013, Chibana was elected as the Japanese Ambassador for United Nations World Food Program for her contributions to the organization as a celebrity partner.

In October 2017, Chibana announced that she had married Ryuji Kamiyama.