My writing routine has improved. When writing my thesis, my most productive timeslot is 10:00 to 13:00. I then have a coffee break before spending 13:30 to 15:30 collecting paper or reading. Outside these hours, I do work, but my concentration is not great after 16:00.

It is a bit hard for me to write a contextual section in cross-cultural research. Describing the environment in which participants interact requires a more journalistic style, because readers are not familiar with the location. I have never before used the subject pronoun ‘I’ in my academic papers, but I feel I need to use ‘I’ because it sounds more natural in an interpretation of what I saw, heard, and perceived in my fieldwork.

This week, I have worked on sorting out the data I collected in Japan, as well as writing and editing the report, even though it was beautiful and sunny outside!

 

Lovely weather in May

I love the weather in May in England. The cool breeze and warm sunshine are very comfortable. It was in May in 2012 when I visited the UK for the first time, just before the London Olympics, and also I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere surrounding the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. I still have a teacup with the 60th-anniversary logo that I bought at the time.

 

Japanese sweets

Only two weeks have passed since I came back to England. Luca and I have consumed all the Japanese sweets (Tokyo Banana, matcha biscuits, Giant Pocky, etc.) that we took back, as they were so delicious!

A week before I left Tokyo, I visited a university to see one of the physician participants again to say thank you. After seeing him, I dropped by a union shop and found a box of chocolates that have the university logo and name ‘UTokyo’ on each piece of chocolate. I am enjoying the chocolate with a small glass of whisky tonight.

 

My achievements in Week 72

• Organised my stuff in the wardrobe space.
• Worked on my fieldwork report (contextual sections) and edited the structure and format of the report.

Goals for Week 73

• Continue working on my fieldwork report until I finish the summary tables of data collected.
• Edit chapters.