The purpose of this study is to review research trends in autoethnography by focusing on domestic autoethnography papers, which have been rapidly increasing in recent years, and to organize them in terms of why autoethnography was used. We believe that exploring the background of why autoethnography was used will clarify what can be achieved through its use. In this study, we conducted a close reading of articles extracted from CiNii Research using the term “autoethnography” and selected 39 for analysis. After examining the articles from the perspective of why they used autoethnography, we identified four characteristics: (1) opposition to concepts and norms circulating in society, (2) “visualization” of “invisible” existence, (3) recovery of meaning through reflection on one’s own practices and experiences, and (4) emphasis on the nature of the participants.