The dirty little secret beauty pageants keep

Almost brash in her self assurance, she savors her role, being in front of the camera, commanding attention. Physically, she was born — not sculpted — for the part. She towers over most of the men around her (she's 5-9 in her bare feet), and has a leggy, dancer's body.

Other than the lips, which are now back to normal, she has had no work done.

"I'm all natural," she said recently over a quick lunch in Ligron's apartment, where she and Chibana were doing a photo shoot for the cover of a book Ligron was working on. It was a brief stop — Mori was en route to a fashion show on the Great Wall of China.

Natural gifts notwithstanding, Mori admits she has gone through a transformation under Ligron's tutelage.

"I was just a girl from the countryside in Japan, I didn't know anything," Mori said. "I was watching her, everything she does. A woman. She's very cool. Like a live textbook."

Since Trump took over, the Miss Universe contest and its sisters — Miss USA and Miss Teenage USA — have gone through a major makeover as well.

They have been retooled from a showcase of male fantasies — Miss Universe started out as a bathing suit competition in California in 1952 — to an event that appeals mainly to women.

Contest organizers say that makes good business sense because many of the sponsors are looking to sell products to women. And the winners are more likely to endorse cosmetics or fill the pages of fashion magazines than they are to be shilling beer.

"Back in the day, it was all this, they were on a pedestal, they looked pretty with their pretty gowns and their pretty hair, but they really didn't speak. There was a lack of substance," said Roston Ogata, who works for the Trump organization as a talent director. "We are definitely trying to turn that around, to push the envelope a lot more."

Last year's Miss USA, Tara Conner, pushed the envelope a bit too far — Trump allowed her to keep her crown only after she agreed to go into rehab after admitting in a tearful news conference to heavy, underage drinking.

So far, Mori's reign has been scandal-free. But she has also dropped the demure, girl-next-door shtick.

In apologizing for running off before finishing her salad, Mori explained that she was late for a seminude shoot — her second.

"I'm comfortable with it," she said. "It's for charity."

"In Japan, for lots of girls, it's not so good to have confidence. It's good to be conservative, very quiet," she said. "It's the culture in Japan, women shouldn't show off. Like a woman's always behind the man, women are more quiet, they don't say their opinion. But I have opinions, and I can talk.

"I'm a performer, I'm a dancer," she said. "Once I'm on the stage, 'poof,' I can change."

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