To learn about cross-national patterns of support from different aspects, I used multiple methods of data collection in this study. In fieldwork, I used three research methods: participant observation, focused interviews, and surveys. Because the same methods were used in both sites – West Haven and Odawara – the cross-national data are systematically comparable in all three respects. I collected most of the data during two years of fieldwork between 1980 and 1982, and updated them subsequently whenever possible. My last visits to the two cities took place in summer 1994.

This study uses primary data from a total of 49 interviewees, 471 survey respondents, and innumerable local observations. I carried out all of the focused interviews and participant observation myself, and interviewed many of the survey respondents as well. I conducted fieldwork in both Japanese and English – being fluent in both languages as a Japanese who also lived in England and the United States as well as Germany for 17 years. In both communities, I interacted with the local elderly residents as an “outsider,” being a woman in her early 30s, originally from Tokyo, and affiliated with an American university. My experience and familiarity with both Japanese and American cultures were essential in developing rapport with the residents, and in observing the cultural nuances of what was said and done. At the same time, my being an “outsider” in both communities also proved valuable in probing residents to talk openly and frankly about their private concerns, and to explore the cultural conceptions that they take for granted in everyday life.