Asianisms in motion: Asian selves and customized Asia among Japanese sojourners in the Pacific West and East

Abstract This article critiques the concept of “being Asian” by focusing on practices and discourses of Japanese sojourners living in or moving between Canada, Australia, and Singapore. By adopting the framework of Asianist studies, the article elucidates how the identification of “being Asian” is chosen by individual Japanese sojourners differently in the Pacific West (Canada and Australia) and the Pacific East (Singapore). In Canada and Australia, “Asian” is a covert category in daily practice that provides Japanese sojourners with almost the only strategy to legitimate their sojourn. Meanwhile, in Singapore, “Asian” is an overt discourse and a self-reconstructive category often contrasted with the “West(erners)” and “Japan(ese).” Nevertheless, the article points out that 1) Asian selves are not necessarily free from West- and Japan-centric hierarchical worldviews; 2) “being Asian” has positive meanings only in Anglophone, globalized, urban areas; and 3) “being Asian” is meaningful only in customized, progressive narratives.