The First Days of Field-work

Immersion

Sunday, 5 October

I finally arrived in Japan to start my fieldwork. To be honest, I had never really thought that would really happen, so nothing, from showing my visa to the immigration officer, to taking the train from Narita airport to the city centre, felt like being back in my favourite country for the sixth time. All my surroundings looked refreshed and ready to be discovered again. Unfortunately, reality called me down from my cloud as soon as the sun rose the next day.

On the move from the hotel to the room I rented for the month of October in Eastern Tokyo, I was unable to check my e-mails for the whole morning, but remained with a bad presentiment which revealed itself in the early afternoon: my supervisor in Japan, who had not replied to my last two communications that I sent before leaving Japan last time at the end of August, had expressed his disappointment in me in the following line written on the morning of the 1st of October: "you haven't contacted me and I am starting to worry". What surprised me even more was that his message was a reply to my last e-mail which stipulated that I would be back in Japan on the 30th and will contact him again.

At first, I was of course baffled. Then a bad memory of losing a contact last July because I seemed not to understand the rules of communication between elderly Japanese academics and young foreign research students. Finally, a deeper worry regarding my ability to undertake fieldwork in Japan; a worry which I shall explain hereafter.

After I calmed down and arranged to meet my professor next week (his complaint now having switched from me "having disappeared" to me "asking for an appointment less than a week in advance"), I considered the difficulty for anthropologists, sociologists, ethnographers etc. In general, researchers intend to investigate a society from within, to reach a balance in achieving the basic requirement of fieldwork: immersion.

Indeed, although it may be thought that immersion should be a straightforward process of 'blending in' with the society under investigation, this requirement is not as easy to complete even if one has a degree in Japanese Studies or has visited the country several times. I mean that comprehending and to a certain extent imitating the cultural behaviour of Japanese when living in the country for a certain period, does make of one neither a Japanese, of course, nor a person capable of immersing oneself in the Japanese society. All this because of the individual character, cultural background and life experiences that he or she has been carrying around for far longer than his interest in Japan. In that sense, and I am aware here that I do not say anything new, one needs to reach a balance between one's individuality and the degree of effacement of this individuality in order to achieve full immersion. I wonder, in fact, if it is really possible, as some may have suggested, that one can keep one's individuality and still succeed in attaining one's fieldwork objectives. It can certainly be claimed here that everything depends on the subject of research, on the degree of will and adaptability required to find out the data sought, and most importantly, on the 'weight' of one's individual 'baggage'.

Coming back to my example, the above consideration translates to simply the following question: did I make a mistake by waiting to contact my supervisor once I arrived in Japan because I thought he was not in his office or was not particularly bothered by my previous communications, despite the social hierarchy that obliges me to occasionally provide him with news from my part?

One look at the outcome and I would say 'yes'.

I hope to find a solution to the whole issue by the end of the fieldwork period. It may be revealed that eventually it all comes down to personal relationships and that cooperation between foreign researchers includes a 'tolerance' challenge. We shall see.

But then again, should one worry too much about this?

Monday, 01 February 2010 07:00