Mark D. West is the Nippon Life Professor of Law, director of the Center for Japanese Studies, and director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Law in Everyday Japan: Sex, Sumo, Suicide, and Statutes, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
"Secret, Sex, and Spectacle stands out by its lively style,
lucidity, and erudition. It should appeal to anyone interested in
scandal, Japan, or the interaction of society, culture, and law in
norm enforcement. In West's engaging book, scandal both reveals the
inner logic of Japanese society and plays a central role in its
public life."--Ari Adut "Law & Society Review"
"An insider's knowledge and an outsider's ironic detachment: this
book has it all. Mark West has written a book that is both fun to
read and a fundamental contribution to our understanding of law and
society in Japan. Not just for Japanologists, Secrets, Sex, and
Spectacle is a model of how to understand the underside of modern
societies."--James Q. Whitman, Yale Law School--James Q. Whitman
(9/15/2006 12:00:00 AM)
"This is a wonderful, original, erudite, interesting, creative, and
insightful book. Making equal use of quantitative methods and
television kitsch, Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle examines the mixture
of legal and social norms that play a role in the emergence and
resolution of scandals in the U.S. and Japan. Some passages are
laugh-out loud funny, others head-scratchingly profound. It will
create stir, become the subject of debate, be imitated and admired,
subject to careful criticism and bountiful praise."--Eric Feldman,
University of Pennsylvania Law School (3/15/2006 12:00:00 AM)
"This original comparative study of national scandals in Japan and
the United States highlights the dynamic relationships that exist
between the law, news media, and cultural values in these two
countries. West brushes aside many of the usual 'cultural'
arguments about Japan and the United States, thereby avoiding the
tired clichés of 'Japaneseness' so many writers put at the center
of studies of cultural difference. What emerges instead is an
important and pathbreaking examination of the players who create
scandal, the institutions that make up the playing ground, and the
rules that control the various scandal 'games.'"--William Johnston,
Wesleyan University--William Johnston (9/15/2006 12:00:00 AM)
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