Acculturation through a Leisure Activity: The Argentine Tango in Japan

Abstract

Cross-cultural experience has long been discussed in the context of indigenous people and colonization, refugees, and migrants and sojourners. This study investigated the cross -cultural experience of forty Japanese who were engaged in a cultural leisure activity, the Argentine tango. Three research questions were tested using an online survey and follow-up interviews. Is the tango (as a cross-cultural experience) an exotic experience of the Other for Japanese dancers? Does the experience of the tango make Japanese dancers reflect on the Self? Does acculturation occur through the tango experience? The results of the online survey indicated that the Japanese tango dancers experience the tango as a new and different social practice, despite the long history of that dance in Japan. The interview data provided support for the view that for the Japanese dancers the Argentine tango is an exotic experience of the Other, and that the experience makes them examine the Self. The desire to be closer to the Other helps the Japanese dancers absorb the Latin culture, and in some cases it facilitates an identity change. In other words, through this leisure activity the Japanese dancers are able to experience acculturation. The individual differences in the responses seem to be created by two influential factors: how much the respondents reach out to the culture of the Other, and how ready they are to accept it.

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