This August, members of the HEART Lab and the Love Across Cultures Project Team had the opportunity to spend several weeks in Tokyo, Japan, conducting the latest phase of our cross-cultural research on love and everyday social experiences.
Our research team in Japan included principal investigators Dr. Saida Heshmati of Claremont Graduate University and Dr. Zita Oravecz of Pennsylvania State University, along with PhD student research associates Jaymes Paolo Rombaoa (Claremont Graduate University) and Kento Suzuki (Pennsylvania State University) and local cultural guide and research assistant Olive Nichols.
During our time in Japan, we completed the qualitative phase of our data collection, interviewing more than 50 participants about their experiences and perspectives on love, relationships, and everyday interactions in Japanese culture. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who took the time to participate and share their experiences with us.
Dr. Zita Oravecz and Jaymes Rombaoa striking a ❤️ pose with Mount Fuji 🗻 in the background (we were grateful to have clear skies that day!)
Learning Beyond the Interviews
Dr. Heshmati and Jaymes at a Bon Odori in Shibuya, Tokyo!
From the local cuisine—which was, of course, incredible 🍣 🍱 🍜 🍚 🍡 🍛 🍙 —to the norms and social etiquette surrounding trains and public transportation, everyday experiences continually gave us new things to notice and think about. We learned about Japanese history and traditional beliefs through visits to Shinto shrines ⛩️ and Buddhist temples, experienced local cuisine, and participated in summer traditions and festivals, including Bon Odori (summer shared dance festival) and Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri (“mizu-kake matsuri,” or water-throwing festival).
An important part of conducting cross-cultural research is understanding the broader cultural context in which people live their everyday lives. Our time in Japan therefore extended well beyond interviews and data collection. Throughout our stay, we had opportunities to observe, participate in, and learn about many aspects of daily life and culture in Japan.
Dr. Zita Oravecz’s first bowl of ramen!
Lively scenes from a local Summer festival in the streets of Tokyo!
Going fishin’ for fortunes at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine
The iconic Pokémon, Pikachu!
We also saw firsthand how contemporary media and entertainment are woven into everyday cultural life, from Pokémon to the broader influence of kawaii (“cute”) culture. These experiences offered a valuable reminder that culture is not simply something captured through survey questions or interview transcripts. It is also embedded in everyday routines, shared spaces, traditions, relationships, and the small social interactions that shape daily life.
For a research project examining how people understand and experience love across cultures, being able to spend time in the communities we are studying made this phase of the project especially meaningful.
Connections That Made This Work Possible
We are especially grateful for the many positive connections we made during our time in Japan. Our data collection—and many of the cultural experiences that accompanied it—would not have been possible without the generosity, time, and support of numerous colleagues and collaborators.
Jaymes Rombaoa, Kento Suzuki, Dr. Zita Oravecz, & Dr. Akira Tsuda in front of Teikyo University of Science (Senju Campus)
Teikyo University of Science (Senju Campus)
First, we would like to express our gratitude toward the connections made at Teikyo University of Science (https://www.ntu.ac.jp/en/). It was wonderful to share the campus space and to learn more about the university’s history and current ongoing research.
Kento Suzuki, Jaymes Rombaoa ✌️ , Dr. Akira Tsuda, Dr. Zita Oravecz, & Dr. Sayaka Takeda ✌️
We are very grateful to Dr. Akira Tsuda, Professor of Health Psychology at Teikyo University of Science, for his continued support with recruitment and our data-collection logistics. Beyond the research itself, Dr. Tsuda also generously shared his knowledge of Japanese culture with our team. It was a pleasure getting to know him, his family, and his colleagues during our time at Teikyo University of Science. We are also very grateful for Dr. Tsuda’s introduction of the President and Vice President of Teikyo University of Science.
Alongside Dr. Tsuda, we had the privilege of working with Dr. Sayaka Takeda, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Nursing, at Teikyo University of Science. Dr. Takeda generously assisted our team with recruitment, logistics, and planning for interviews conducted at the university.
Through our TUS connections of Drs. Tsuda and Takeda, we were especially honored to be introduced to Dr. Shohachi Okinaga, Chairman and President of Teikyo University of Science, and Dr. Takako Okinaga, Vice President and Executive Director of the Institute for Life and Human Studies at Teikyo University of Science. We are grateful for the warm welcome our research team received and for the university's support of our work during our time in Tokyo.
Shared dinner with the Research Team and Colleagues, Family, and Friends from the Teikyo University of Science (TUS) group! Featured are the President and Vice President of TUS, Dr. Tsuda & family, Dr. Takeda & family, and Dr. Heshmati & husband, and PhD student Jaymes.
(Left to Right): Kaori Uno, Dr. Akira Tsuda, Dr. Saida Heshmati, Kento Suzuki, and Dr. Sayaka Takeda
We are extremely grateful to Kaori Uno, Representative Director of the Japan Positive Psychology Association, for her assistance with logistics and, importantly, for connecting our research team with faculty members at Teikyo University of Science's Senju Campus. Without Kaori as the initial collaborator, we would have never been able to extend our connections to other colleagues during our time in Tokyo!
Olive, Jaymes, & Kento—selfie after a full day of data collection!
We would like to thank Olive Nichols, our research assistant and local Tokyo cultural guide. Olive played an instrumental role throughout our time in Japan, assisting with participant recruitment and data collection, conducting one-on-one participant interviews, and contributing to the preliminary cleaning and review of Japanese-language interview transcripts. We are deeply appreciative of everything they contributed to the project.
We also would like to extend a grateful shout-out to Kento, who was also integral in participant recruitment and conducting one-on-one participant interviews throughout and outside of Tokyo. We’re excited to have you continue with the data cleaning and analyses for the qualitative data, as well as future assistance with the next phase of the Japan quantitative data collection later this year. This is just the beginning of our research journey!
Dr. Saida Heshmati & Dr. Miyuzi Shimizu having a lovely lunch break!
Posing with the Meiji University mascot! 🦉 💙
We also extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Miyuki Shimizu, Visiting Professor at Meiji University, for assisting with participant recruitment and conducting interviews in the Central Tokyo area. Her support helped make it possible for us to reach participants across multiple locations during our time in Tokyo. We appreciated your hospitality in sharing your office space for some work and also all your feedback on the research!
Research across cultures depends on relationships and collaboration. We are fortunate to have met so many people who were willing not only to support the project, but also to share their time, knowledge, communities, and perspectives with us. Arigatou gozaimasu (ありがとうございます)—thank you—to everyone who helped make this part of the project possible.
A Glimpse of Our Time in Japan 📸
Below is a small photo gallery offering a glimpse into daily life for members of our research team—including Dr. Saida Heshmati, Dr. Zita Oravecz, Jaymes Rombaoa, Kento Suzuki, and Olive Nichols—along with some of the colleagues and connections we made during our time in Tokyo.
From research interviews and university visits to temples, summer festivals, train rides, and plenty of Japanese food, these photos capture just a small part of our experience. 🗾⛩️🗻🍜💠💮🏮
What Comes Next
As summer comes to an end and the Fall semester begins, our work on the broader project continues.
In the coming months, our team will be working toward completing the final writing stages of our first manuscript based on the Brazil data collected earlier this year. At the same time, we will begin the next stages of our Japan research, including cleaning and reviewing the qualitative interview data, preparing transcripts for analysis, and beginning to examine the themes that emerged from participants' accounts.
We are excited to see how the perspectives shared with us in Japan contribute to the larger story we are building about how love is understood, expressed, and experienced across cultures.
Stay tuned for more updates from the HEART Lab and our Logs of Love series! ❤️
