What an intensive and hectic seven days last week! The biggest achievements of the week were that I got my ethics clearance from an organisation (no more ethics applications required!) and that I got the inspiration for my methodology from a meeting with the scholar I mentioned last week, a ‘very cold person’. His tone read more

The first half of this week was a little bit depressing. One of the research participants introduced a medical scholar to me. The scholar is a professor belonging to an authoritative institution. I wrote an email about myself, my research, and the kind of advice I would like from the scholar, and I sent it read more

We had the heaviest snow in Tokyo since 2014 and experienced serious traffic disruptions. I was visiting a research participant. The meeting went well, and we arranged for three-day observations in February. After the meeting, the snow was getting heavier, and I was stuck at a train station for two hours. On Thursday, Tokyo recorded read more

Three weeks have passed since I came to Tokyo to start my fieldwork. I have spent the past few weeks (and will continue to do so) contacting and recruiting research participants, meeting with them in person, explaining the study, arranging dates for my observations and recordings, and working on literature reviews. This week, I found read more

I have fully recovered from the flu and got back into a normal work routine: wake up at 6 am, have a chat with Luca, have breakfast, and then work. I started making hand-written field notes on 9th January, and I keep writing about everything that happened, whom I have met, and what I have read more

I’ve had the flu since 2nd January, with a high fever of 39.7˚C, a chill, and body aches that continued for five days. I went to a hospital on the 6th and was tested for influenza and pneumonia. Luckily, the high fever was not a symptom of pneumonia but only of influenza. My doctor prescribed read more