Author
Lyn Richards

Pub Date: 11/2009
Pages: 256

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Lyn Richards
Title: Elderly survivors of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Japan
Author: Junko Otani: Osaka University, Graduate School of Human Sciences

I initially trained as dentist in Osaka and in public health at Harvard where quantitative approaches such as epidemiology and biostatistics were traditional. I further received training in qualitative approaches since recognized its importance. I conducted my PhD research in London looking at elderly survivors of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe-Osaka area of Japan for their long-term life reconstruction. Whilst working with the World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO) in China and Geneva, I traveled internationally at my writing up stage but survived with NVivo data and writing management. I took my first academic post at Kyushu University in April 2005 where I experienced the Fukuoka West-Off Earthquake on my arrival. With University's grant, I invited Prof Lyn Richards to Kyushu University in September 2006, which was well-received and many researchers from all over Japan came to listen to the open lecture. I took my second academic post at Osaka University in my home town from October 2008. My current research focus is the longer-term consequences of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, China. I was invited to deliver a key lecture at the launch of Japanese version of NVivo at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo in June 2007. I am a translator of the book, "Handling Qualitative Data: A practical guide", Lyn Richards, Sage, 2005, into Japanese edition, to be published from KitaOji Shobo in Kyoto in July 2009.

Contact details: Junko Otani, DDS, MPH, MS, PhD
Associate Professor
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University
1-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871 Japan