Due to the pandemic, Vienna doctoral students are forced to modify their Japan research: travel to Japan has not been possible for over a year, and the doctoral students turn to hiring a Japanese company to conduct survey research on their behalf. DIJ deputy director Barbara Holthus and DIJ researchers Sonja Ganseforth and Nora Kottmann, who have all conducted their own surveys in Japan provided hands-on advice on research companies, costs involved, possible sampling strategies, questionnaire construction and the importance of sharei (incentives). Former DIJ PhD students Florian Purkarthofer and Dennis Askitis as well as Stefan Hundsdorfer, who are all currently doctoral students at Vienna, attended the meeting. It was part of the tight-knit cooperation between the DIJ and Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna. The cooperation started in 2010 with Wolfram Manzenreiter, who also participated in the online meeting, joining the editorial board of Contemporary Japan. Since 2014, one DIJ researcher per year has been teaching a class in Vienna.