Mori said in Tokyo Monday that she has been swamped by cameras and has been doing interviews and appearances "nonstop."

But Japan's newest star said she won't be able to savor her homecoming for long. She will soon be hitting the road again with her $250,000 pearl-and-diamond studded crown.

"I'm only here for a week, then it's back to New York" and a tour around the world, the 20-year-old dancer said in an interview Monday.

"It's funny because I've never been surrounded by so many people, so many cameras. Japanese people never cared about beauty pageants before. But this is a huge thing in Japan now," Mori added.

She said she is hoping to devote herself to her new role -- which includes acting as a spokeswoman for AIDS issues -- and is also looking for a possible role on the TV series "Heroes," broadcast by NBC, which has rights to the Miss Universe pageant.

"As soon as I won Miss Universe I had this big chance," Mori, who teaches jazz dance at her mother's studio in Shizuoka near Mount Fuji, said. "I've never acted before. I went to the casting audition and read a script in English and Japanese, and they said it was really good. So I hope I can be in the show."

Mori said her role would be "Yaeko," a love interest for one of the main characters.

Her crowning caught Japan by surprise.

The only other time Japan has won the pageant was in 1959, when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Asia.

Japan was runner-up last year, when Kurara Chibana narrowly missed top honors.

Mori, who has been dancing since she was four, said she was encouraged to enter the competition by her grandmother. After seeing Chibana nearly win, she was hooked.

"I thought I needed something for my life, something different," she said. "Miss Universe isn't all about beauty. It's about serving people, too."

Mori, who lived in Canada for three years and studied classical ballet, said her goal after finishing her year as Miss Universe is to open a dance school. Her mother was also a dancer.

She said the long years she spent training in dance helped build her character, and that appealed to the judges.

"I think I have a samurai soul," she said. "I'm very patient, and I can serve others."

"I was determined to bring back the crown to Japan," Mori, 20, told her first news conference since returning to Japan. "I knew I could do it."

"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 her crown on her head. (AP-AFP-Naharnet)