Blog
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Beyond Matchmaking: An Accidental Love Story Bridging Urban and Rural Japan
Tokyo proposed paying single women to move to the countryside for marriage. Reiko moved to Miyako after meeting her husband through an online game.
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Commodifying the Ocean: local products of Miyakojima
Salt, snacks and cosmetics sold to visitors as the essence of an island sea.
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Metta Garden: A Buddhist practice of loving-kindness connecting Japan and Asia
A garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka, run on the Buddhist principle of mettā, and the ties it keeps to Japan.
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Restoring a kominka together: the recipe for finding true love?
In the Netflix dating show “Love Village”, eight people between 35 and 60 renovate a 152-year-old farmhouse while looking for a partner.
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On (im)mobility and time in rural Japan: Thoughts on transportation during fieldwork
Fieldwork on Miyako by bicycle, without a driver’s licence, through the sugarcane fields.
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On insularity and the built environment
Bridges, resorts and concrete, and what islanders say about living surrounded by sea.
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An afternoon on Miyakojima: Reflecting on environmental issues from different local perspectives
Two encounters in one afternoon about the island’s ocean, reef, and dragon energies.
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15 May 2022: the 50th anniversary of Okinawa Prefecture’s ‘reversion’ to Japan
Media coverage of the anniversary ran in two directions: a romanticised ‘Okinawa difference’, and reporting on the military bases.
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Yarabu Tree: Multi-species collaboration and co-habitation on Ikema
Tamanu oil is made by tree, bat and human together. Yarabu windbreaks have been planted on Ikema since the Ryūkyū Kingdom, and islanders speak of the energy they hold.
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The Miyako Bubble: building the future of a remote island
Rents on a par with Tokyo on half the wage. Masato moved from Yokohama for the sea and arrived in the middle of a construction rush.
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Aina Farm: the story of a young sararīman who became an organic farmer
A salaryman left the city to grow organic vegetables in Mie prefecture. He describes the first years on the farm.
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Primal Rhythm: a site for global and local alliances
Mariko Mori chose a site off northern Miyako from Google Earth and installed a 4.2-metre translucent pillar in the sea.
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Being city, being human
Surveys of where people would like to live, set against the figures for where they actually move.
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New Digital Nomads or: how to pursue a PhD in times of Covid-19
With the border shut, fieldwork moved online. Five notes on doing digital ethnography from Berlin.
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