(Japan Series) Joy Hendry – Doing Field Research in Japan: A Long View

Joy Hendry last year clocked up 50 years since she first travelled to Japan for a year’s field research in her subject of social anthropology. The methods and practice have changed a lot since that time, but essentially the aims are the same, namely to understand and explain Japanese ways of thinking and behaving in a variety of contexts. Joy’s talk will lay out these aims in more detail and explain their importance for anyone with an interest in Japan, illustrating the explanations with examples of her own long-term research over the period in rural Kyushu and seaside Chiba prefecture, and shorter observations elsewhere. She will also take a glance at the future of the subject, now very popular in Japan, both with international scholars and local ones.

Joy Hendry is professor emerita of Oxford Brookes University, where she taught for 30 years.She has published 11 books and many articles, founded the Europe Japan Research Centre and the Japan Anthropology Workshop, and was awarded an Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese Emperor in 2017. The 6th edition of her textbook Understanding Japanese Society has just come out, co-authored with Emma Cook who teaches in Japan.