In an effort to increase recognition abroad as well as prevent smirks, giggles, or shocked stares from English speakers, more businesses and private organizations are dropping the regional name "Kinki" from their titles and replacing it with "Kansai."
On Wednesday, the 71-member Kinki Federation of Chambers of Commerce voted to change its name to the Kansai Federation of Chambers of Commerce. The group includes chambers from cities and towns in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Hyogo, Shiga and Wakayama prefectures, as well as those in Fukui Prefecture.
The name change comes partially because Kinki sounds like "kinky" to native speakers of English and has long been the subject of mostly bad (but occasionally clever) jokes among foreign residents and visitors.