[Flow and Float] April-July 2025

Short summary of my research: I explore Tokyo's hidden waterways, called 暗渠 (ankyo), and how they relate to the city's urban development. Using my background in writing and theater, I combine qualitative research with artistic methods to capture the changing atmosphere around these underground streams. I plan to create an online platform that shares both real histories and imagined stories. People can see, listen and engage with the content as they walk through the neighborhoods.

This is my first semester at Keio SFC, and I’ve developed what I think is a pretty good foundation for my research going forward. 

Routes I Explored by Using the Edo Period and Present-Day Maps  🔍

1. Shibuya Route
   From Sendagaya Station to the Shibuya River, ending at Namiki Bridge (並木橋). This route follows the old river path through places like Meiji Park, Cat Street, and Oden Shrine. It’s a mix of historical layers and commercial present, offering a path to think through urban transformation. 📁 my research progress files for this route
2. Tamagawajosui Green Spaces Route
   In Setagaya, from Fujimigaoka Station to Tamagawajosui Eisen-ji Green Space (in the Shimo-takaido area). This route runs through a more residential part of the city, but has some memorable spots like Takaidodairokuten Shrine (高井戸第六天神社), a long narrow strip of green that feels like déjà vu after déjà vu, and a cemetery for pets. 📁 my research progress files for this route
3. Kanda River Route (Extra Route)
   From the Shimo-takaido area to Tsukayama Park. It follows a river where people jog, walk dogs, and children play. It contrasts with the Tamagawajosui route—one has a visible flowing river, the other doesn’t. They run almost parallel, offering two moods of the same area. 📁 my research progress files for this route

Fieldwork 🚶‍♂️👂

• I walked the Shibuya route six times: four times alone, and twice with friends (a Thai friend and a Chinese friend), mostly in the afternoon between 3–5 PM on weekdays.
  I walked so much that I even dreamed I was walking alone and no one else was around (lol).
• I walked the Tamagawajosui Green Spaces route twice alone, also on weekday afternoons.
• I walked the Kanda River Route twice in the evenings, around 5–7 PM.

Big Discoveries from Fieldwork

• Meiji Park has a small river modeled after the Shibuya River (thanks, Kelly!).
• I looked at old photographs and found out that Cat Street used to be residential with a playground. The river used to be much wider.
• There’s an odd social tension in some spaces—like people smoking while facing each other awkwardly. Kato-sensei pointed out that these used to be back areas of buildings, where you could take breaks unseen. Now, because of the urban changes(gentrification, perhaps), the layout has changed, and you're visible from across the street.
• Harajuku used to be fields of rice with waterwheels. I’m interested in pairing the sound of the breeze in Thai rice fields with the sound of a Japanese waterwheel to create a sensory experience.
• I noticed that when I walked alone, I often heard airplanes (3–4 times along the route). But when I was in conversation with others, I didn’t notice them at all.

Literature Review  📚

Walking as Research Practice: A Special Issue from the WARP Conference (Sept 2022)

• Walking as a pause
• Feeling humidity on the skin
• Everyone walks at their own rhythm and brings their own story
• The pace of walking can reflect inner or life transitions
• Animal perspectives: 🐶 🐱 🐀 🐜 (dogs, cats, rats, ants)

Dialogic Social Inquiry (Jan N. Defehr et al.)

• You can research your own family
• You can position yourself in your research

Writing: A Method of Inquiry (Laurel Richardson & Elizabeth St. Pierre, 2018)

• Writing is not just reflection but also a method of inquiry
• You can collect unconventional data—dreams, sensations, emotions, memories
• Creative writing can be analytical

Conceptual Development 🌳
The biggest discovery so far is what walking means to me—and how it's tied to my interest in migration. As a Thai woman in Tokyo, I live many roles at once: student, immigrant, artist. I move between visibility and invisibility, belonging and alienation.
Walking has become a quiet, personal method of grounding myself—of finding a sense of place in an unfamiliar environment. I notice small details others might overlook, and those details connect and contrast with memories of home. It makes Tokyo feel layered—with echoes of elsewhere.
I’m increasingly interested in how people from different backgrounds migrate to Tokyo and navigate this big, complex city. I think of them like rivers that once flowed visibly but now move underground—still present, but hidden. Their stories are here, even if we don’t see them. 

Concerns 💭
A helpful suggestion is that I make a small, handheld guidebook, so readers can follow text and maps easily. Sounds, photos, and videos could live online. But I also want to maintain the bodily connection to walking and the surroundings—I don’t want it to feel like a checklist or assignment. More like a companion that helps you connect to the city and yourself.
So far, the people I’ve walked with are all similar to me: foreign women in their 20s and 30s, straight. I want to expand this to include more diversity—across gender, physical ability, and including Japanese people who moved to Tokyo from other parts of the country.

Next Steps 🗣️

• I’ll focus on the Shibuya route and start writing texts to accompany the photos I’ve taken. These will become conversation starters in upcoming walking interviews.
• I need better equipment to record interview audio and environmental sounds.
• For the intercultural aspect, I might collect (or ask others to collect) sounds from Thailand.
• I want to keep experimenting with the idea of writing and walking—treating writing as a method of inquiry, not just something you do after the walking ends. So I may start writing or taking notes while walking. Let’s see how it goes.