Extract from a February 2005 interview of Emoto by The Maui News

Interviewer: Any criticism about your work that I have read suggests it's not valid because there are no double blind studies. What is your response?

Emoto: When I consider hiring a new researcher to take crystal photography, I first give that person a blind test on water crystals. For example, I will provide some samples of water that we know will definitely form crystals, and some samples that will not produce any (such as Tokyo's tap water) without telling the candidate. Dep...

Extract from a February 2005 interview of Emoto by The Maui News

Interviewer: Any criticism about your work that I have read suggests it's not valid because there are no double blind studies. What is your response?

Emoto: When I consider hiring a new researcher to take crystal photography, I first give that person a blind test on water crystals. For example, I will provide some samples of water that we know will definitely form crystals, and some samples that will not produce any (such as Tokyo's tap water) without telling the candidate. Depending on the test result, I will register that person according to his or her level. However, I do not require any blind test on any samples after that. I believe that the researcher's aesthetic sense and character is the important aspect when taking crystal photographs. Therefore, I try to make sure that they can take photographs in a relaxed and positive atmosphere. I urge each one of them to try their best because beauty exists in everything.

Apparently, Emoto uses blind tests to screen the photo-taking skills of his photographers, but not systematically in the actual experiments, leaving the potential for selection bias. In an October 2005 interview through a translator, Emoto mentioned he didn't "understand this double-blind too much."[2]