We occasionally use metaphorical expressions in our day-to-day communication in order to facilitate conversations and promote reflections. This year, we have been conducting a project named ‘tekina (its like…)’, in that we seek to explore the ways in which an individual’s way of doing research is socially shaped and reshaped through on-going communication processes. Based on our preliminary findings, we will exhibit the case of field study in Sakuragaoka, Shibuya, Tokyo.