Shame on me ... emotions in the fieldwork on old age in Japan

Abstract

The starting point of this article is my research experience in Japan. As a non-Japanese, white woman, I spent four months in Japan researching about old age. Those four months were a period of an extensive research activity filled with various events and situations. The main aim of this article is to attend to emotions in fieldwork by illuminating the role of emotions in research and knowledge construction. More specifically, this article is a record of my own experiences of various accumulated emotions and knowledge that have shaped my understanding of what I saw, heard and felt during my fieldwork on old age in Japan. The particular focus is on shame and how shame became the mediator and activator of my knowledge about old age in Japan. The examples presented here demonstrate that openness and ability to feel contribute greatly to the type of research in which we engage, and the type of research we are capable of performing.