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.

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."

The researcher in computer content analysis is often faced with a paucity of guidance in conducting a study. Published exemplars of best practice in computer content analysis are rare, and computer content analysis seems to have developed independently in a number of disciplines, with researchers in one field often unaware of new and innovative techniques developed by researchers in other areas. This volume contains numerous articles illustrating the current state of the art of computer content analysis. Research is presented by scholars in political science, natural resource management, mass communication, marketing, education, and other fields, with the aim of providing exemplars for further research on the computer analysis and understanding of textual materials. The studies presented in Applications of Computer Content Analysis offer a varied spectrum of exemplary studies, Researchers can, due to the breadth of the studies presented here, find methodological, theoretical, and practical suggestions which will significantly ease the process of creating new research--and will significantly reduce the duplication of effort which has, until now, plagued computer content analytic research. Intended for an audience of graduate students, scholars, and in-field practitioners, this will serve as an invaluable resource, full of useful examples, for those interesting in using computers to analyze newspapers articles, emails, mediated communication, or any other sort of digital communication.

The researcher in computer content analysis is often faced with a paucity of guidance in conducting a study. Published exemplars of best practice in computer content analysis are rare, and computer content analysis seems to have developed independently in a number of disciplines, with researchers in one field often unaware of new and innovative techniques developed by researchers in other areas. This volume contains numerous articles illustrating the current state of the art of computer content analysis. Research is presented by scholars in political science, natural resource management, mass communication, marketing, education, and other fields, with the aim of providing exemplars for further research on the computer analysis and understanding of textual materials.

The studies presented in "Applications of Computer Content Analysis" offer a varied spectrum of exemplary studies, Researchers can, due to the breadth of the studies presented here, find methodological, theoretical, and practical suggestions which will significantly ease the process of creating new research--and will significantly reduce the duplication of effort which has, until now, plagued computer content analytic research. Intended for an audience of graduate students, scholars, and in-field practitioners, this will serve as an invaluable resource, full of useful examples, for those interesting in using computers to analyze newspapers articles, emails, mediated communication, or any other sort of digital communication.

In recent years, computer content analysis has undergone something of a renaissance. Inexpensive and powerful desktop computers mean that computer analysis of texts is available to most researchers. The availability of software to do analyses, however, is not always linked to clear theoretical and methodological understandings. This volume seeks to deal with this concern by providing, from scholars in a variety of disciplines, perspectives upon the theoretical and methodological issues which arise when conducting content analysis via computer. Although it is not always obvious, computer content analysis is a method which inevitably calls for theoretical assumptions. Those theoretical assumptions in turn drive methodological considerations, and method in turn determines the form of the practice of computer content analysis. This volume includes ten articles by well-known scholars utilizing computer content analysis. A variety of methodological, theoretical, and practical issues are here addressed, presenting unique methods and perspectives for the consideration of computer content analysis. Intended for an audience of graduate students, scholars, and in-field practitioners, Theory, Method and Practice of Computer Content Analysis will serve as an invaluable resource of ideas and practices for those interested in using computers to analyze textual material.

In recent years, computer content analysis has undergone something of a renaissance. Inexpensive and powerful desktop computers mean that computer analysis of texts is available to most researchers. The availability of software to do analyses, however, is not always linked to clear theoretical and methodological understandings. This volume seeks to deal with this concern by providing, from scholars in a variety of disciplines, perspectives upon the theoretical and methodological issues which arise when conducting content analysis via computer. Although it is not always obvious, computer content analysis is a method which inevitably calls for theoretical assumptions. Those theoretical assumptions in turn drive methodological considerations, and method in turn determines the form of the practice of computer content analysis.

This volume includes ten articles by well-known scholars utilizing computer content analysis. A variety of methodological, theoretical, and practical issues are here addressed, presenting unique methods and perspectives for the consideration of computer content analysis. Intended for an audience of graduate students, scholars, and in-field practitioners, "Theory, Method and Practice of Computer Content AnalysiS" will serve as an invaluable resource of ideas and practices for those interested in using computers to analyze textual material.

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.