A Kansaijin in Tohoku

Autoethnography on the Recognition of Self and Other

Abstract

This article is an autoethnography that explores how I formed my recognition of others and self as a Kansaijin, or a person from Kansai (western part of Japan) in Tohoku. I was born in Osaka, Kansai district in Japan and moved to Sendai, Tohoku area when I was eighteen to enter the university. Since then, I have been recognized as a Kansaijin who always and everywhere speaks Kansaiben, a dialect spoken in the Kansai area; other stereotypical characteristics include being humorous, greedy, avoiding consumption of natto (fermented soybeans), and so on. Even though such "uniqueness" of Kansai and Kansaijin have been wellknown in Japan through the conventional representation by the media, they have always been the object of joke topics and have not been seriously investigated. While conducting this autoethnography, I again realized that Japanese anthropologists, including myself have presumed that there were no significant cultural differences within the "Japanese people." Ironically, that is why I could only undertake this project in the form of an autoethnography.