Ethnographic research and writinghttps://sarahclay.xyz/enhttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/beyond-matchmaking/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/beyond-matchmaking/Tokyo proposed paying single women to move to the countryside for marriage. Reiko moved to Miyako after meeting her husband through an online game.Fri, 29 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/commodifying-the-ocean/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/commodifying-the-ocean/Salt, snacks and cosmetics sold to visitors as the essence of an island sea.Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/metta-garden/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/metta-garden/A garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka, run on the Buddhist principle of mettā, and the ties it keeps to Japan.Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/restoring-a-kominka/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/restoring-a-kominka/In the Netflix dating show “Love Village”, eight people between 35 and 60 renovate a 152-year-old farmhouse while looking for a partner.Fri, 07 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/immobility-and-time/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/immobility-and-time/Fieldwork on Miyako by bicycle, without a driver’s licence, through the sugarcane fields.Fri, 10 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/on-insularity/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/on-insularity/Bridges, resorts and concrete, and what islanders say about living surrounded by sea.Fri, 28 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/an-afternoon-on-miyakojima/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/an-afternoon-on-miyakojima/Two encounters in one afternoon about the island’s ocean, reef, and dragon energies.Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/okinawa-reversion/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/okinawa-reversion/Media coverage of the anniversary ran in two directions: a romanticised ‘Okinawa difference’, and reporting on the military bases.Fri, 20 May 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/yarabu-tree/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/yarabu-tree/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.Fri, 15 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/the-miyako-bubble/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/the-miyako-bubble/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.Fri, 28 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/aina-farm/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/aina-farm/A salaryman left the city to grow organic vegetables in Mie prefecture. He describes the first years on the farm.Fri, 15 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/primal-rhythm/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/primal-rhythm/Mariko Mori chose a site off northern Miyako from Google Earth and installed a 4.2-metre translucent pillar in the sea.Fri, 02 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/being-city-being-human/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/being-city-being-human/Surveys of where people would like to live, set against the figures for where they actually move.Thu, 29 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://sarahclay.xyz/blog/new-digital-nomads/https://sarahclay.xyz/blog/new-digital-nomads/With the border shut, fieldwork moved online. Five notes on doing digital ethnography from Berlin.Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT