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Mark D. West

Lovesick Japan: Sex * Marriage * Romance * Law Hardcover – April 15, 2011

by Mark D. West (Author)

4.4 6 ratings

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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.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Cornell University Press
Publication date

April 15, 2011
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0801449472
ISBN-13

978-0801449475
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Nobody else explores the law in Japan quite like Mark West, bringing it to life and close to home. Lovesick Japan is an entertaining and insightful examination of the courts, pulling eye-popping gems from judges' opinions that speak volumes about their proclivity for peeping, prodding, moralizing and otherwise creeping into the bedroom in adjudicating marriage, divorce, rape, stalking and pornography.... But there is much more to Lovesick Japan than a series of absurd rulings; here we are shown how sermonizing judges try to shape society in their own image.... Often they go well beyond the law to decide cases based on nonfactual, subjective elements, sometimes with unfortunate consequences.

-- Jeff Kingston ― Japan Times

Tranquil, according to Mark D. West, Japanese love is not. Happy it is not. And comforting it is not.... A prolific and brilliant legal scholar, West draws these conclusions from Japanese court opinions. Some of them concern criminal prosecutions for rape or murder. Others involve civil suits for divorce or damages. West carefully and thoughtfully combs these opinions for discussions of love, sex, marriage, and romance, teasing out what judges think about it all.... West reads these court opinions with care and intelligence (with, frankly, extraordinary care and intelligence).

-- J. Mark Ramseyer ― Monumenta Nipponica

Review

Never dull, painfully revealing, and always entertaining, Lovesick Japan gives us a sexy, swaggering account of how the courtroom and the bedroom 'hook up' in Japan. Judicial opinions that read like salacious romance novels offer a telling portrait of a nation in which love invites misery, sex lacks intimacy, and loveless, sexess marriage is the norm. For those who thought love and law were odd bedfellows, think again. Here is the proof that the logic of the law and the passion of human sexuality are forever coupled.

-- Eric A. Feldman, Deputy Dean for International Affairs, University of Pennsylvania Law School

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cornell University Press; First Edition (April 15, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0801449472
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0801449475
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,203,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #371 in Marriage Law (Books)
- #874 in Divorce & Separation Family Law (Books)
- #1,601 in Jurisprudence (Books)

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4.4 6 ratings

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4.4 out of 5

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Dashanzi

Lovesick Worn Out

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2012

Verified Purchase

Visiting Tokyo, I read a very positive review about this book in Japan Times and subsequently purchased it upon returning to the States. I became worn out with the legal mumbo jumbo and lost interest quickly. I recommend this book only if you are interested in all things Japan.

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Dean A. Galaro

A deep legal look into Japan's view of love

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2013

I must confess: my original interest in Japanese law was not this book, but rather Yukio Mishima's "Runaway Horses." The book's main character is a young judge in Osaka. While the book does not delve into the intricacies of Japanese legal practice and hierarchy, it did spark an interest. That interest is what led me to Professor West's book.

Now, is this book full of legal terms, explanations, and long quotations from court decisions? Yes, indeed it is. That is the entire point of the book: disciphering what love, sex, and marriage mean to the Japanese through legal decisions and practices. I'm a law student, and so I'll admit I'm biased towards works that take the legal route in explaining something. I also happen to think Japanese culture as a whole is quite fascinating, being that it is in many ways the polar opposite of American culture.

Here, Professor West is using Japanese judges as the looking glass through which we peer into the depths of Japanese relationships; sometimes cooky, sometimes sad, and always thought provoking. For someone who is unfamiliar with law or is uninterested in reading legal opinions, this book might not be the best choice. While it is a strength of the book that it focuses so heavily on judicial opinions, it does make it less accessible to a wider audience. But, for anyone who is mildly interested in either the law or Japan (or Japanese law), this book is a must-read. Plus, at a paltry 272 pages, it is hardly a legal tome.

I look forward to reading Professor West's other books about Japanese law.

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Lovesick Japan: Sex * Marriage * Romance * Law Hardcover – April 15, 2011

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