As is often said that most ”Obachan”（Middle aged women） in Kansai region love “Anima Printed Wear”, but is it true? Actually, I was born in Kansai, and both of my parents are also from Kansai, so I can say I am “purely” Kansai-jin (person / people originally from Kansai) . I grew up in Kansai until I graduated from university, so I spent 23 years there. From the cultural background point of view, I am a very Kansai-jin. In my memory when I was a child, there were a lot of middle aged women in Osaka who wore various kind of animal print tops proudly. At boutiques around the city, they sell various kind of animal print wears, furthermore, sometimes you can find pop up stores selling them.
Obachan often show-off their wears saying “Don’t you think my wear is cool, do you? This leopard print cut and sew I bought with very discounted price! Who’s smart? I am! Why? Because I bought such a nice wear with such a discounted price! You should call me a price negotiation genius!!” They always give us a lot of information without being asked. They are talkative. But surely, yes, they are very cost sensitive, and they make all the effort to get discounted when they buy something. This is just a very general thing.
Am I one of Kansai-no-obachan?
Do I deserve to be called “Kansai-no-obachan?” This is a complicated question. As I mentioned above, I was born and grew up in Kansai until 23 years old. After that, I moved to Tokyo, and I have been in Tokyo for almost 20 years since then. Near future, I will be longer in Tokyo than in Kansai region. As a grown woman, I have spent longer time in Tokyo, and major life events such as work and marriage, I have been experiencing in Tokyo. So, unconsciously I am affected by Tokyo culture, and of course it affects my way of thinking or how I feel. So I wonder still I am or no longer Kansai jin.
My preference proved it! Obviously, I am Kansai-no-obachan!
Photos above are the replica uniform of Hanshin Tigers this year. Hanshin Tigers is one of professional baseball team in Japan and they base in Kansai. A lot of Kansai jin support Tigers, and they are well known with their enthusiastic supporting behaviors. As a matter of fact, I am not that a fan of Tigers, but my husband is. One day, I watched a Tigers baseball game on TV with my husband and found Tigers players were wearing very eye-catching uniform, and that was the uniform of the pictures above. They wore the tiger print uniform!! According to my search, the uniform is the seasonal design of 2021, and they don’t always wear it, and they wear it only for some special matches. The second I saw the uniform, I was very excited, and I fell in love with it at a first glance. I shouted “Wow! this tiger print uniform is so cool!” “I really want to get this!” And the very next moment, I started searching it on the Internet.
As a trademark? As an icon? Anyway, Animal Print Calls Me.
After that, I considered the reason why I got so excited when I saw the uniform. Basically, I don’t have animal print clothes. Usually I prefer wearing basic, plain, simple wears like one-colored, striped, or dot patterned wears to vivid colored or complicate patterned one. However, when I saw the uniform, I fell in love with it. After my consideration, I realized that I just believe animal print clothes as a trademark or an icon of being Kansai jin, especially of being Kansai-no-obachan. My reaction of being excited at a glance was a very natural behavior as Kansai jin. As a matter of fact, my soul was called by the tiger! People call it as an urban legend, but my preference proved that Kansai no obachan loves animal print, and I found myself being certified as Kansai jin. Life is beautiful!
*About Tigers uniform, this site explains as detail.