Autoethnographic scholars concentrate on “producing meaningful, accessible, and evocative research grounded in personal experience, research that would sensitize readers to issues of identity politics, to experiences shrouded in silence, and to forms of representation that deepen our capacity to empathize with people who are different from us” (Ellis & Bochner, 2000).
Focusing on Bochner & Ellis’ (1992), Couser’s (1997) and Denzin’s (1989) idea of the ‘epiphany,’ a significant moment to me isn’t so much a past experience prior to looking into this topic of autoethnography. In saying this, I also haven’t been to Japan and so in terms of package design, I wasn’t really aware of what they were like until recent research of the Fanta package designs. This is more where my epiphany came in to play. As well as this, a peer of the class who brought in physical packaged products of ‘Tokyo Treat’ that further intrigued me. The…
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Digital Asia 
I found your post really interesting, as you were able to identify a huge cultural difference within the way Japan present graphic & marketing techniques through a simple investigation into the specific beverage ‘Fanta’ alone. I found it fascinating that you were able to unpack your autoethnographic experience through certain points and elements that you, as a third year graphic design student were able to identify through differences and elements of design that you are not accustom to. Through specific components of design such as “Gradients”, “Colour Palette”, “Language and Typography” and the use of “Kawaii” culture you were able to simply identify noticeably different cultural aspects through something as simple as how a well known beverage that you, yourself are accustom to and how it is marketed in a foreign Asian country. When you mentioned, how you “feel that the mixture of visual elements such as the bubbly visuals/gradients and buoyant typography and pattern work as well as the child-like colour palettes, all add up to the “cuteness” of the design aesthetic of the Japanese Fanta identity” Do you think that these “child-like” elements are seen as “child-like” within their own culture or is it part of the norm in terms of their marketing strategies and something they have been accustom to? Do you categorise some of these elements as “child-like” as a result of your own cultural experience and why do you think this has formed a part of your own thinking?
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