Each society that consumes alcohol has its own unique drinking culture, and each society deals with the drunken products of that culture in particular ways. As Mark D. West shows in Drunk Japan, the distinctive features of Japanese drinking culture and its intoxication-related laws are not simply interesting in and of themselves, but offer a unique window into Japanese society more broadly. Drawing upon close readings of over 5,000 published Japanese court opinions on drunkenness-related cases, he provides a rich description of Japanese alcohol consumption, drinking culture, and intoxication. West reveals that the opinions not only show patterns in what, where, and why people drink in Japan, but they also focus to a surprising extent on characteristics (including occupation, wealth, gender, and education) of individual litigants. By examining the consistencies and contradictions that emerge from the cases, West finds that, at its most extreme, the Japanese legal system is hyper-individualized. Focusing on individual people sometimes leads courts to ignore forensic evidence, to rely on post-arrest drinking tests, and to calculate prison sentences based on factors such as a mother's promise to help her adult child abstain. Cumulatively, the colorful and often tragic cases West uses not only illuminate the complexity of the culture, but they also reveal an entirely new vision of Japanese law and a comprehensive picture of alcohol use in Japanese society writ large.

Drunk Japan: Law and Alcohol in Japanese Society

Health, Fitness & Dieting

West, Mark D.

Addiction & Recovery

Oxford University Press

Using an institutional and empirical approach, this book analyzes the role of formal rules (law and regulations) and informal rules (norms, practices, and shared beliefs) in the Japanese economy. Through in-depth studies of corporate governance and finance, mergers and acquisitions, financial regulation, and markets for everything from venture capital to legal talent and organized crime, Milhaupt and West show that institutions play a crucial and heretofore overlooked role in the structure of the Japanese economy, which often is portrayed as being governed exclusively by interpersonal relations and bureaucratic fiat.

Economic Organizations and Corporate Governance in Japan: The Impact of Formal and Informal Rules

Business & Money

Milhaupt, Curtis J.

Economics

Law in Everyday Japan: Sex, Sumo, Suicide, and Statutes

Lawsuits are rare events in most people's lives. High-stakes cases are even less commonplace. Why is it, then, that scholarship about the Japanese legal system has focused almost exclusively on epic court battles, large-scale social issues, and corporate governance? Mark D. West's Law in Everyday Japan fills a void in our understanding of the relationship between law and social life in Japan by shifting the focus to cases more representative of everyday Japanese life. Compiling case studies based on seven fascinating themes—karaoke-based noise complaints, sumo wrestling, love hotels, post-Kobe earthquake condominium reconstruction, lost-and-found outcomes, working hours, and debt-induced suicide—Law in Everyday Japan offers a vibrant portrait of the way law intermingles with social norms, historically ingrained ideas, and cultural mores in Japan. Each example is informed by extensive fieldwork. West interviews all of the participants-from judges and lawyers to defendants, plaintiffs, and their families-to uncover an everyday Japan where law matters, albeit in very surprising ways.

Self-Help

Death & Grief

University of Chicago Press

Lawsuits are rare events in most people's lives. High-stakes cases are even less commonplace. Why is it, then, that scholarship about the Japanese legal system has focused almost exclusively on epic court battles, large-scale social issues, and corporate governance? Mark D. West's Law in Everyday Japan fills a void in our understanding of the relationship between law and social life in Japan by shifting the focus to cases more representative of everyday Japanese life. Compiling case studies based on seven fascinating themes—karaoke-based noise complaints, sumo wrestling, love hotels, post-Kobe earthquake condominium reconstruction, lost-and-found outcomes, working hours, and debt-induced suicide—Law in Everyday Japan offers a vibrant portrait of the way law intermingles with social norms, historically ingrained ideas, and cultural mores in Japan. Each example is informed by extensive fieldwork. West interviews all of the participants-from judges and lawyers to defendants, plaintiffs, and their families-to uncover an everyday Japan where law matters, albeit in very surprising ways.

A leader of a global superpower is betrayed by his mistress, who makes public the sordid details of their secret affair. His wife stands by as he denies the charges. Debates over definitions of moral leadership ensue. Sound familiar? If you guessed Clinton and Lewinsky, try again. This incident involved former Japanese prime minister Sosuke Uno and a geisha. In Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle, Mark D. West organizes the seemingly random worlds of Japanese and American scandal—from corporate fraud to baseball cheaters, political corruption to celebrity sexcapades—to explore well-ingrained similarities and contrasts in law and society. In Japan and the United States, legal and organizational rules tell us what kind of behavior is considered scandalous. When Japanese and American scandal stories differ, those rules—rules that define what’s public and what’s private, rules that protect injuries to dignity and honor, and rules about sex, to name a few—often help explain the differences. In the cases of Clinton and Uno, the rules help explain why the media didn’t cover Uno’s affair, why Uno’s wife apologized on her husband’s behalf, and why Uno—and not Clinton—resigned. Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle offers a novel approach to viewing the phenomenon of scandal—one that will be applauded by anyone who has obsessed over (or ridiculed) these public episodes.

Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States

Foreign & International Law

News Formula: A Concise Guide to News Writing and Reporting

Politics & Social Sciences

Mitchell, Catherine C.

Social Sciences

St Martins Pr

Japanese Law in Context: Readings in Society, the Economy, and Politics (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

This is a wide-ranging selection of 130 readings in Japanese law. The essays, extracted from previously published books and articles, cover subjects including historical context, the civil law tradition, the legal services industry, dispute resolution, constitutional law, contracts, torts, criminal law, family law, employment law, corporate law, and economic regulation. This unique collection of readings is accompanied by the texts of the Japanese constitution and other basic laws.

Computers & Technology

Hendry, Joy

THOMPSON, Mark

Johnson, Chalmers

Young, Leslie

Fallows, James

Shapiro, Martin

Becker, Gary S.

Chira, Susan

Van Wolferen, Karel

BOK, DEREK

Merryman, John Henry

McCubbins, Mathew D.

Bayley, David H.

Weingast, Barry R.

Field, Norma

Bernstein, Lisa

Magee, Stephen P.

Brock, William A.

Dubro, Alec

Roe, Mark J.

Nakazato, Minoru

Shleifer, Andrei

Lohr, Steve

Rohlen, Thomas P.

Murphy, Kevin M.

Vishny, Robert W.

Pascale, Richard

Noble, Gregory W.

Upham, Frank K.

Bryant, Taimie L.

Krauss, Ellis S.

Smith, Thomas C.

Kidder, Robert L.

Crabb, Kelly

Miyazawa, Setsuo

Foote, Daniel H.

Miller, Geoffrey P.

Fukao, Mitsuhiro

Muramatsu, Michio

Smith, Robert Eliot

Eng, Robert Y.

Gilson, Ronald J.

Abegglen, James

Abowd, John M.

Amaya, Naohiro

Ames, Walter

Asanuma, Banri

Calvert, Randall L.

Coleman, Samuel

Edwards, Linda N.

Fukushima, Glen S.

Haley, John O.

Hamilton, Constance

Heftel, Chris

Henderson, Dan Fenno

Kaplan, David S.

Kaplan, Steven N.

Kawashima, Takeyosi

Minton, Bernadette A.

Moran, Mark J.

Muto, Shunko

Notehelfer, F. G.

Olson Jr., Mancur

Parkinson, Lorraine

Sheard, Paul

Sklar, Deborah

Smith, Malcolm D. H.

Stalk Jr, George

Takasugi, Shingo

Tanaka, Hideo

Weinstein, David E.

Wiswell, Ella

Yokoyama, Minoru

Yonemoto, Kazuhiro

Zaloom, E. Anthony

Software

Harvard University Asia Center

In Lovesick Japan, Mark D. West explores an official vision of love, sex, and marriage in contemporary Japan. A comprehensive body of evidence―2,700 court opinions―describes a society characterized by a presupposed absence of physical and emotional intimacy, affection, and personal connections. In compelling, poignant, and sometimes horrifying court cases, West finds that Japanese judges frequently opine on whether a person is in love, what other emotions a person is feeling, and whether those emotions are appropriate for the situation. 
Sometimes judges’ views about love, sex, and marriage emerge from their presentation of the facts of cases. Among the recurring elements are abortions forced by men, compensated dating, late-life divorces, termination fees to end affairs, sexless couples, Valentine’s Day heartbreak, "soapland" bath-brothels, and home-wrecking hostesses. Sometimes the judges’ analysis, decisions, and commentary are as revealing as the facts. Sex in the cases is a choice among private "normal" sex, which is male-dominated, conservative, dispassionate, or nonexistent; commercial sex, which caters to every fetish but is said to lead to rape, murder, and general social depravity; and a hybrid of the two, which commodifies private sexual relationships. Marriage is contractual; judges express the ideal of love in marriage and proclaim its importance, but virtually no one in the court cases achieves it. Love usually appears as a tragic, overwhelming emotion associated with jealousy, suffering, heartache, and death.

Lovesick Japan: Sex * Marriage * Romance * Law

Relationships

Cornell University Press

Df Lovesick Japan Z

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