With an autoethnography study of myself, who lived on a southern island in China for 23 years before coming to Japan and teaching the English language at a Japanese university, I aim to address the tension between identity labels and the unidentifiable self and call for a reimagination of identity and belonging.

The complexity of transnational academics' identities has been explored in various contexts (Phung, 2020). While illustrating the fluidity in the idea of identity, most identity research regard 'having identity' as the basis or the goal of every individual. This framing of identity, thus, positions those who do not have identities as problematic while ignoring that the construction of identity itself inevitably leads to the exclusion of particular groups.

Excluded from the co-existing English-native-speakerism and the self/other binary in the idea of Japaneseness in English education in Japan, I kept being positioned under the 'Chinese' label without a doubt. Nevertheless, due to the sociohistorical background in my birthplace, my language and culture have never been entirely accepted under the label of Chinese. Despite the fact of sharing language and culture with Taiwan due to historical background, I am also excluded from my culture and language, which are labeled as Taiwanese under Taiwan's independent movement of creating its national identity.

Highlighting my experience of constantly being captured to various identity labels while being excluded under all labels, I problematize the tacit assumption of regarding 'not having' identity as the problem and positioning creating identities as the solution. Shedding light on becoming as the essence of being, I call for a reimagination of 'not having' identity as default due to the nature of individuals as constantly becoming. The acknowledgement of this constant becoming, thus, opens to the belonging of all possibilities.