Drunk Japan

241 Pages·2020·9.35 MB·English

Drunk Japan

1

Drunk Japan

Law and Alcohol in Japanese Society

MARK D. WEST

1

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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

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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