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Drunk Japan PDF

241 Pages·2020·9.35 MB·English
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Drunk Japan 1 Drunk Japan Law and Alcohol in Japanese Society MARK D. WEST 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: West, Mark D., 1968– author. Title: Drunk Japan : law and alcohol in Japanese society / Mark D. West. Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019038103 (print) | LCCN 2019038104 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190070847 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190070854 | ISBN 9780190070861 (epub) | ISBN 9780190070878 Subjects: LCSH: Alcoholism—Social aspects—Japan. | Drinking of alcoholic beverages—Social aspects—Japan. | Liquor laws—Japan. Classification: LCC HV5613 .W48 2019 (print) | LCC HV5613 (ebook) | DDC 362.2920952—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038103 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038104 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America For Amber CO N TE N TS Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Explanatory Notes xiii 1. Drinker’s Paradise? 1 2. How to Drink in Japan 16 3. Drunk Crimes 52 4. Drunk Driving 79 5. Drunk Others 100 6. Punishing the Drunk 123 7. Drunk in Society 142 8. Conclusion: One for the Road 175 Notes 185 Index 215 P R E FACE When a stranger in Japan tries to strike up a conversation with me in Japanese, there is a nontrivial chance that the subject of alcohol will arise. Sometimes I’m asked if I like sake or Japanese beer, and occasionally I receive an alleged com- pliment like “You look like someone who can drink a lot.” I don’t, really, at least not in the U.S. But some people in Japan think non- Japanese people can hold their liquor relatively well, so to them, I might, in fact, look like a person who can drink a lot. I actually can’t drink a lot, and even if I could, I doubt I would. But since I began living, traveling, studying, and working in various capacities in Japan in the 1980s, I have drunk every drink and visited almost every type of drinking es- tablishment mentioned in the judicial opinions that form the basis for this book. I take no pride in that whatsoever, but you should know it. Perhaps more significant, I have shared drinks in Japan with carpenters, base- ball players, sushi chefs, schoolteachers, mechanics, farmers, sumo wrestlers, salarymen, CEOs, artists, engineers, actors, mobsters, and priests (Buddhist, Shinto, and Catholic), as well as legislators, bureaucrats, lawyers, law professors, prosecutors, and police officers. And yes, I’ve shared drinks with some of the judges who authored the court opinions that are the core of this book. I’m glad I had these varied experiences with wonderful people, and I learned a lot from them. (I can’t say the same for them; the combination of my inability and unwill- ingness to keep pace, at least for the past twenty- five years or so, makes me a bit of a buzzkill.) But there is nothing unusual about these experiences for someone who has spent as much time in Japan as I; they simply reflect life in Japan, or at least segments of it, and they happen to correlate with the stories that are the subject of the book. Still, I won’t litter the book with personal anecdotes, as they would merely reflect my singular perspective. That perspective (and yours) necessarily is informed by observations of other drinking cultures. In fact, it was only after I became thoroughly ensconced in

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