WEBVTT 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:04.971 Hello, everybody, and welcome to my lecture. 00:00:05.005 --> 00:00:11.411 I am very grateful to the organizer of Studium Generale for this invitation. 00:00:11.444 --> 00:00:17.951 And I decided to present today on the topic of law and literature, 00:00:17.984 --> 00:00:22.255 and specifically on the Japanese legal system as seen through Literary Sources. 00:00:22.288 --> 00:00:24.758 My name is Giorgio Colombo, and I'm a professor 00:00:24.791 --> 00:00:27.293 at the Graduate School of Law at Nagoya University. 00:00:29.562 --> 00:00:35.335 So, this is my starting point. 00:00:35.402 --> 00:00:40.106 I assume that most of you probably read books for fun. 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:45.378 Read novels, read literature for entertaining 00:00:45.412 --> 00:00:49.315 or maybe you watch TV series, or you play video games, 00:00:49.349 --> 00:00:52.252 or you watch TV for the same purpose. 00:00:52.285 --> 00:00:55.922 And I know some of you are law students, 00:00:55.955 --> 00:01:02.929 but I also am under the assumption that many of you probably do not study law. 00:01:02.962 --> 00:01:09.903 And law tends to be perceived as a relatively boring subject 00:01:09.936 --> 00:01:13.473 by non-lawyers, and sometimes even by lawyers. 00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:18.978 But the purpose of this lecture is to make everybody understand that 00:01:19.012 --> 00:01:23.917 you can learn a lot about law from non-legal sources, 00:01:23.950 --> 00:01:29.289 from novels, from manga, from movies, from TV series, from video games. 00:01:29.322 --> 00:01:34.828 So, while I will focus mostly on literature in kind of 00:01:34.861 --> 00:01:39.099 a conservative science, books and novels, 00:01:39.132 --> 00:01:43.269 I will also try to offer you some ideas 00:01:43.303 --> 00:01:49.509 on how to use pop culture to learn about the legal system. 00:01:49.542 --> 00:01:55.015 And since we are in Japan, and my area of research is comparative law, 00:01:55.048 --> 00:01:57.650 I compare Japanese law with European law. 00:01:59.152 --> 00:02:02.122 Today, the main focus will be the Japanese legal system. 00:02:05.291 --> 00:02:09.129 So, in the recent years, 00:02:09.195 --> 00:02:14.067 studies in law and humanities have developed immensely. 00:02:14.134 --> 00:02:18.705 Until a few decades ago, it was considered kind of strange 00:02:18.738 --> 00:02:23.610 to use non-legal sources to approach the legal system, 00:02:23.643 --> 00:02:29.616 but actually, now it is a fully legitimate area of study. 00:02:29.649 --> 00:02:36.222 So, what I do sounds a bit exotic, in some context, 00:02:36.256 --> 00:02:42.529 but for example, in the United States, in Australia, 00:02:42.562 --> 00:02:46.666 these studies in law and humanities are very, very common 00:02:46.733 --> 00:02:49.736 and very, very mainstream. 00:02:49.769 --> 00:02:52.505 And as I mentioned before, while at the beginning, 00:02:52.539 --> 00:02:57.344 the focus was primarily on literature in a conservative sense, 00:02:57.377 --> 00:03:02.449 now we have legal analysis based on popular culture as well. 00:03:02.482 --> 00:03:06.186 So, as I mentioned before, like video games, manga, and so on. 00:03:07.754 --> 00:03:12.792 And you can see like, there were many books written in the recent years 00:03:12.826 --> 00:03:16.463 on this idea, the relationship between law and literature. 00:03:19.265 --> 00:03:25.438 And we have even entire university programs 00:03:25.472 --> 00:03:30.410 focusing on these specific area of research, 00:03:30.443 --> 00:03:32.746 law and humanities. 00:03:32.779 --> 00:03:36.149 But also we move to popular culture. 00:03:36.182 --> 00:03:42.722 So, we have a lot of research about 00:03:42.756 --> 00:03:45.425 how the legal system is represented, 00:03:45.458 --> 00:03:51.164 and in some ways, even shaped by the popular sources. 00:03:51.197 --> 00:03:55.402 This is something that is kind of normal. 00:03:55.435 --> 00:03:56.603 Most people actually ... 00:03:56.636 --> 00:04:01.441 the idea that most people have about the law and the legal system 00:04:01.508 --> 00:04:03.643 is based on popular sources. 00:04:03.677 --> 00:04:07.180 We all watched movies with lawyers. 00:04:07.213 --> 00:04:11.184 We all watched TV series with lawyers. 00:04:11.217 --> 00:04:14.921 And in the popular imagination, that is the law. 00:04:18.591 --> 00:04:24.230 Most of those movies and series are not accurate from a technical point of view, 00:04:24.264 --> 00:04:30.537 they don't purpose to represent the law in a faithful way. 00:04:30.570 --> 00:04:32.806 Nevertheless, they're extremely important 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:38.011 because they shape the popular imagination about what the law is. 00:04:38.044 --> 00:04:40.013 And now, for example, in the United States, 00:04:40.046 --> 00:04:46.252 sometimes court have problems because people serving on jury duty, 00:04:46.286 --> 00:04:52.292 they want to play the juror they've seen in the movies, 00:04:52.325 --> 00:04:57.130 but being in a jury duty is something slightly quite different 00:04:57.163 --> 00:04:58.665 than what you see in the movies. 00:05:00.934 --> 00:05:07.307 Anyway, we have a development also in studies about law and popular culture, 00:05:07.340 --> 00:05:13.880 again, because the perception of the law people have 00:05:13.913 --> 00:05:15.648 is shaped by popular culture, 00:05:15.682 --> 00:05:19.486 and for the people who deal with law professionally, 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:24.624 it is extremely important to understand how people perceive the law, 00:05:24.657 --> 00:05:28.762 how people approach the law, how people imagine the law. 00:05:28.795 --> 00:05:32.032 So, we have these kind of programs as well. 00:05:35.435 --> 00:05:41.341 Now, these area of studies was originally developed 00:05:41.374 --> 00:05:46.046 in the United States, and there are a few reasons for that. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:53.019 One is that like elite institutions in the United States, as always, 00:05:53.053 --> 00:05:56.990 they are always like the forerunner for academic experiments. 00:05:57.023 --> 00:06:01.127 So, when this area was a relatively unexplored, 00:06:01.161 --> 00:06:07.200 many top level universities in the United States started the movement. 00:06:07.267 --> 00:06:10.337 And there is also this idea that in the United States, 00:06:10.403 --> 00:06:15.108 law is closer to the society than in other places. 00:06:15.141 --> 00:06:18.044 I'm not sure whether this is accurate or not, 00:06:18.078 --> 00:06:23.249 but there is a reason why legal dramas 00:06:23.283 --> 00:06:26.953 are so widespread in the United States, 00:06:26.986 --> 00:06:33.159 and not that much in other countries or in other legal cultures. 00:06:33.193 --> 00:06:34.861 And we will discuss that in a second. 00:06:36.529 --> 00:06:39.666 Why do I mention this issue? 00:06:39.733 --> 00:06:46.206 Because the fact that this field of study was born in the United States 00:06:46.239 --> 00:06:52.979 has, as consequence, the fact that most law and literature studies, 00:06:53.013 --> 00:06:56.783 they tend to focus on what we call in comparative law, 00:06:56.850 --> 00:06:58.385 the western legal tradition. 00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:06.626 And specifically, when these scholars 00:07:06.659 --> 00:07:11.698 analyze the relationship between law and literature, 00:07:11.731 --> 00:07:18.071 they do that mostly on the literature written in English, 00:07:18.104 --> 00:07:22.342 which means British literature, American literature, 00:07:22.375 --> 00:07:25.745 Australian regions, or post-colonial literature. 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:31.918 But these factor that this area of studies was born 00:07:31.951 --> 00:07:35.522 in elite institutions in the United States, and even in Britain ... 00:07:37.757 --> 00:07:43.963 has as a side effect, the fact that 00:07:43.997 --> 00:07:49.536 so far, we have little attention to other cultures. 00:07:49.569 --> 00:07:55.775 In other words, you don't have so many studies 00:07:55.809 --> 00:08:00.613 on different literatures 00:08:00.647 --> 00:08:04.150 because, first, of these historical fact. 00:08:04.184 --> 00:08:08.188 And second, because the specialists of law and literature, 00:08:08.221 --> 00:08:12.692 they tend to be studying in those places. 00:08:12.726 --> 00:08:18.365 So, there are language barriers, like, not many people speak many languages. 00:08:18.398 --> 00:08:22.736 And so, everybody speaks English. So, it's easier to do that. 00:08:22.802 --> 00:08:27.674 And also, there is this thing about like the role of law in the society. 00:08:27.707 --> 00:08:34.681 This is a bit a generalization, is a bit simplistic as an analysis. 00:08:34.714 --> 00:08:37.017 But for example, in the United States, 00:08:37.050 --> 00:08:40.954 you see a much stronger popular participation in the law. 00:08:41.021 --> 00:08:42.856 I mentioned the jury. 00:08:42.922 --> 00:08:46.259 Now, the jury we see in movies is a typical feature 00:08:46.292 --> 00:08:47.761 of the American legal system. 00:08:47.794 --> 00:08:54.768 We do not have such kind of juries in continental Europe or in Japan. 00:08:54.801 --> 00:09:00.173 So, normal people are way more involved in the legal process in that sense. 00:09:02.676 --> 00:09:09.182 Whereas in countries like Japan, law is still largely perceived 00:09:09.215 --> 00:09:14.688 as something for experts, between experts. 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:19.059 We think things are changing in the recent years, 00:09:19.092 --> 00:09:20.894 but there is this division. 00:09:20.927 --> 00:09:25.498 Also, again, this is a bit simplistic, 00:09:25.565 --> 00:09:30.203 but for example, there are some features 00:09:30.236 --> 00:09:35.075 of the American court trial. 00:09:35.108 --> 00:09:36.643 They're quite spectacular. 00:09:36.676 --> 00:09:42.916 Again, you all seen the movies with a lawyer, giving the closing speech 00:09:42.949 --> 00:09:46.453 in front of the jury, using a lot of rhetorics 00:09:46.486 --> 00:09:52.258 and making these motivational speech doing the case. 00:09:52.292 --> 00:09:57.731 In most countries, court litigation is actually extremely boring 00:09:57.764 --> 00:09:59.499 and based on documents. 00:09:59.566 --> 00:10:04.304 I'm a lawyer myself, I used to practice law back in Italy. 00:10:04.337 --> 00:10:09.075 And most civil litigation in a country, like Italy or Japan or Germany, 00:10:09.109 --> 00:10:13.780 is basically you submit documents to the court, and the court reads them. 00:10:13.813 --> 00:10:20.754 So, the visual representation of a normal hearing 00:10:20.787 --> 00:10:26.159 in civil litigation will be the judge asking lawyers, 00:10:26.192 --> 00:10:27.594 “Have you filed the documents?” 00:10:27.627 --> 00:10:29.796 Lawyers will say, yes. 00:10:29.829 --> 00:10:32.799 And judge will say, "Okay, see you in three months." 00:10:32.832 --> 00:10:34.701 So, not very exciting, right? 00:10:34.734 --> 00:10:40.073 Not very spectacular, not very suitable for popular representation in a way. 00:10:42.575 --> 00:10:49.549 But the problem is that, of course, the law is different in different countries. 00:10:51.151 --> 00:10:57.157 And we speak about legal cultures, specifically 00:10:57.190 --> 00:11:03.997 because law and culture are related. 00:11:04.030 --> 00:11:05.098 Why? 00:11:05.165 --> 00:11:09.569 For example, there is a certain regulation of family law in one country 00:11:09.602 --> 00:11:13.373 and a different regulation in another country 00:11:13.406 --> 00:11:16.576 because of the underlying culture. 00:11:18.244 --> 00:11:22.315 So, as it was already pointed out by some scholars, 00:11:22.349 --> 00:11:29.255 I am just quoting one of them, the problem is that 00:11:29.322 --> 00:11:33.626 the fact that law and literature was born in the United States 00:11:33.660 --> 00:11:40.600 makes it a bit difficult to apply the same analysis 00:11:40.633 --> 00:11:45.171 created for the English speaking world in the United States 00:11:45.205 --> 00:11:50.110 and the American legal system to other legal culture, 00:11:50.143 --> 00:11:52.545 to other legal system. 00:11:52.579 --> 00:11:57.384 And this is a problem we are dealing with in our field of study. 00:12:02.822 --> 00:12:08.395 Sorry, there is a one sentence in Italian ... apologies. 00:12:08.461 --> 00:12:15.035 So, the thing is, law and literature, 00:12:15.101 --> 00:12:18.605 it's a very fascinating field of study. 00:12:18.638 --> 00:12:23.677 And it's not just like lawyers want to look cultivated 00:12:23.743 --> 00:12:28.048 and they want to show off, say, we read a lot of books, 00:12:28.081 --> 00:12:31.651 we are very knowledgeable about literature, and so on. 00:12:31.685 --> 00:12:38.558 But it's very important for the lawyers to understand how law is represented 00:12:38.591 --> 00:12:41.294 in society and in the arts 00:12:41.327 --> 00:12:47.133 because it gives us a lot of extremely useful information 00:12:47.167 --> 00:12:53.073 about how the law is actually perceived by the population. 00:12:53.106 --> 00:12:55.975 As you understand ... 00:12:58.511 --> 00:13:04.417 the users of the legal system, people affected by the legal system 00:13:04.451 --> 00:13:09.723 are all the citizens, all the people, not just the lawyer. 00:13:09.756 --> 00:13:13.159 So, maybe one lawyer, one jury is somebody 00:13:13.193 --> 00:13:17.764 who studies or applies law as their main occupation, 00:13:17.831 --> 00:13:21.534 fully understands the rationale behind the legislation, 00:13:21.568 --> 00:13:25.939 fully understands how to use some legal institution, 00:13:25.972 --> 00:13:28.708 but the general audience doesn't. 00:13:28.742 --> 00:13:34.514 So, it's very important to understand what's going on in society. 00:13:34.547 --> 00:13:40.253 So, why should we study how law is represented in literature? 00:13:40.286 --> 00:13:45.025 What are the functions and roles of the study of law and literature? 00:13:46.993 --> 00:13:51.464 We have writers, novelist, and authors 00:13:51.531 --> 00:13:56.670 giving us external control over the law. 00:13:56.703 --> 00:14:00.240 They don't know the technicalities of the law. 00:14:00.273 --> 00:14:02.375 So, they represent the law as they see that. 00:14:02.409 --> 00:14:07.347 And this is extremely useful because as I said a few seconds ago, 00:14:07.380 --> 00:14:11.951 lawyers are already buyers, they already know how the law should be. 00:14:11.985 --> 00:14:17.157 And also, lawyers can give us, sorry, 00:14:17.190 --> 00:14:20.326 writers can give us a representation of social needs. 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:27.300 Imagine, for example, that in a novel, the main character cannot do something 00:14:27.333 --> 00:14:29.736 because the law prevents them to do that. 00:14:31.805 --> 00:14:33.506 That's a problem. 00:14:33.540 --> 00:14:39.512 Maybe there is a social need the law is unable to accommodate. 00:14:39.546 --> 00:14:43.249 And as lawyers, we should be aware of that. 00:14:43.283 --> 00:14:47.921 And also, again, we know how the law is made as lawyers 00:14:47.954 --> 00:14:49.989 and we know what's the purpose of the law, 00:14:50.056 --> 00:14:54.494 but then, it's not necessarily the case that people see through that. 00:14:54.527 --> 00:14:59.766 So, for example, if a law was created by the legislature for one purpose 00:14:59.833 --> 00:15:03.770 and then is applied in a different way, we need to know that. 00:15:03.803 --> 00:15:07.941 And also, the representation of law in literature, 00:15:07.974 --> 00:15:11.711 it's very important for the collective imagination about the law. 00:15:11.778 --> 00:15:16.049 For example, you might have heard of the book "To Kill a Mockingbird," 00:15:16.082 --> 00:15:22.622 is a book about a trial, as a black man prosecuted in the United States 00:15:22.689 --> 00:15:29.295 during the period in which the civil rights movement was starting. 00:15:29.329 --> 00:15:36.002 That book was so influential on the perception of the civil rights movement 00:15:36.036 --> 00:15:42.108 that it was more effective, to some extent, than a legal reform. 00:15:42.142 --> 00:15:43.510 And it was a piece of literature. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.848 So, let's move to Japan. 00:15:50.483 --> 00:15:55.789 When I say the Japanese legal system, and I speak about the Japanese context, 00:15:55.822 --> 00:15:59.859 I just want to specify that I today will only cover 00:15:59.926 --> 00:16:02.729 Japanese law and Japanese literature, 00:16:02.762 --> 00:16:05.899 and Japanese law in non-Japanese literature, 00:16:05.932 --> 00:16:12.238 which means works produced by writers, authors who are not Japanese. 00:16:12.272 --> 00:16:13.406 Okay. 00:16:15.842 --> 00:16:21.614 When we approach a text and we want to see what can we learn 00:16:21.681 --> 00:16:27.020 about law from these novel, or play, 00:16:27.053 --> 00:16:30.690 or manga, whatever ... 00:16:30.724 --> 00:16:33.360 we need to ask ourselves a few question, 00:16:33.393 --> 00:16:36.830 because of course, we need to ask ourselves, like, 00:16:36.863 --> 00:16:40.300 is the author lawyer, or do they have legal expertise ... 00:16:40.333 --> 00:16:43.837 because, of course, if somebody is a lawyer, 00:16:43.870 --> 00:16:45.105 they will know a lot about the law. 00:16:45.138 --> 00:16:47.640 So, even if they write a novel, 00:16:47.674 --> 00:16:50.143 most likely, their representation will be accurate. 00:16:51.678 --> 00:16:55.248 Also, we need to ask ourselves, is the author contemporary to the plot 00:16:55.281 --> 00:17:00.487 because people normally have a better perception of the society they live in 00:17:00.553 --> 00:17:03.456 rather than another historical moment. 00:17:03.490 --> 00:17:06.693 We need to ask ourselves is the author Japanese, because again, 00:17:06.726 --> 00:17:10.630 an internal perception is different from an external perception. 00:17:10.663 --> 00:17:14.300 And we need to see how law is used in the story, 00:17:14.334 --> 00:17:17.137 whether it plays a major role or a minor role. 00:17:17.170 --> 00:17:21.041 And also, we need to see how the characters feel about the law. 00:17:21.074 --> 00:17:23.243 Do they feel like injustice? 00:17:23.276 --> 00:17:25.512 Or do they feel the law protects them? 00:17:25.545 --> 00:17:27.947 And as readers, how do we feel about the law 00:17:27.981 --> 00:17:31.551 after approaching some literary works? 00:17:31.618 --> 00:17:35.955 Okay, apologies for this fairly long 00:17:35.989 --> 00:17:39.759 theoretical explanation and framing. 00:17:39.826 --> 00:17:42.996 But now, let's put that in practice. 00:17:43.029 --> 00:17:47.701 So, let's see a few works that are very, very, very influential 00:17:47.734 --> 00:17:54.708 in the Japanese historical artistical history, 00:17:54.741 --> 00:17:57.811 and see how the law works there. 00:17:57.844 --> 00:18:01.448 So, for example, you might be familiar with Chūshingura, 00:18:01.481 --> 00:18:04.351 the story of the 47 Ronin. 00:18:04.384 --> 00:18:08.488 That was a very, very famous Bunraku puppet play, 00:18:08.521 --> 00:18:12.058 and then became a Kabuki play and then became ... 00:18:12.092 --> 00:18:16.996 well, there are so many versions of Chūshingura, the 47 Ronin, 00:18:17.030 --> 00:18:22.035 including a very strange film with Keanu Reeves made a few years ago. 00:18:22.068 --> 00:18:25.472 Now, what's the story behind Chūshingura? 00:18:25.505 --> 00:18:31.478 So, there is a dispute between two nobles. 00:18:31.511 --> 00:18:37.884 One noble is a warrior, a very pure person, very brave. 00:18:37.951 --> 00:18:41.855 But he's not particularly good at 00:18:41.888 --> 00:18:45.959 court ceremonials and etiquette. 00:18:46.026 --> 00:18:49.763 And then, there is this other noble, who is the contrary. 00:18:49.796 --> 00:18:56.603 He is kind of like a sleazy plotter who is very, very good 00:18:56.636 --> 00:19:00.473 at all protocol and etiquette. 00:19:00.507 --> 00:19:05.879 And the first one, the noble one, the good guy in the story ... 00:19:07.881 --> 00:19:10.984 asked some advice to the bad guy 00:19:11.017 --> 00:19:15.021 about how to deal with some envoys from the Shogun, 00:19:15.088 --> 00:19:21.895 and the bad guy gives him, on purpose, wrong advice to make him look bad 00:19:21.928 --> 00:19:24.531 in front of like the Shogunate. 00:19:24.564 --> 00:19:29.769 So, the good guy gets enraged and tries to kill the bad guy, 00:19:29.803 --> 00:19:32.072 but the bad guy survives. 00:19:32.105 --> 00:19:35.775 Now, the good guy committed the crime 00:19:35.842 --> 00:19:42.749 because he basically tried to kill somebody in the Palace of the Shogun. 00:19:42.816 --> 00:19:47.087 So, that was a very serious crime in Japanese law under the Tokugawa. 00:19:48.955 --> 00:19:52.692 So, he was sentenced to commit suicide. 00:19:52.726 --> 00:19:56.696 When a noble died in a situation like this, 00:19:56.730 --> 00:20:02.135 so after a sentence, his family was disbanded, 00:20:02.168 --> 00:20:08.608 and his retainers lost the rank they had 00:20:08.641 --> 00:20:13.580 and became a Ronin which is masterless samurai. 00:20:13.613 --> 00:20:17.851 So, all the retainers of this noble who had to commit suicide, 00:20:17.884 --> 00:20:21.254 they feel that the situation is unjust 00:20:21.287 --> 00:20:28.128 because their master, their Lord was tricked by the bad guy. 00:20:28.161 --> 00:20:32.966 And so, they feel that it's unfair that only their Lord was punished, 00:20:32.999 --> 00:20:36.036 and the bad guys left for free. 00:20:36.069 --> 00:20:39.305 So, they decide to commit revenge. 00:20:39.339 --> 00:20:42.876 So, they plot the revenge for a long time 00:20:42.909 --> 00:20:46.579 because, of course, the bad guy expects them to commit to revenge. 00:20:46.613 --> 00:20:51.851 When they are sure the revenge can be committed, 00:20:51.885 --> 00:20:57.223 they attack the bad guy's residence, and they kill him, 00:20:57.257 --> 00:21:01.728 and they bring his head to the grave of their master, 00:21:01.761 --> 00:21:06.266 and then they turn themselves into the Shogunal authority. 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:09.736 They go there and say, "Hey, we committed a crime. 00:21:09.769 --> 00:21:14.908 We committed a crime, we know it's a crime because we killed somebody, 00:21:14.941 --> 00:21:20.747 but at the same time, we fulfilled our duty as a retainer. 00:21:20.780 --> 00:21:26.453 So, we violated the state law by committing murder, 00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:31.958 but at the same time, we performed our duty as good retainers." 00:21:31.991 --> 00:21:38.465 So, there is this contrast between law and justice. 00:21:38.531 --> 00:21:42.135 So, the Shogunal authorities don't know what to do with them, 00:21:42.168 --> 00:21:45.572 because they're criminals in a way, they committed a crime. 00:21:45.605 --> 00:21:51.144 But at the same time, they did also something very 00:21:51.177 --> 00:21:56.316 morally worth because they avenged their master. 00:21:56.349 --> 00:22:01.154 So, eventually, there is a long debate in the Shogun court. 00:22:01.221 --> 00:22:03.023 And at the end of the story, 00:22:03.056 --> 00:22:07.694 the Ronin are given the privilege of committing suicide. 00:22:07.761 --> 00:22:10.463 In Tokugawa law, 00:22:10.497 --> 00:22:15.135 the permission of committing suicide was considered a noble death. 00:22:15.168 --> 00:22:18.638 So, in a way, it was a death sentence, 00:22:18.672 --> 00:22:23.977 but the most noble death sentence a person could receive. 00:22:25.979 --> 00:22:31.451 So, you see how this plays like this Bunraku play 00:22:31.484 --> 00:22:36.556 analyzes the contracts between law and justice. 00:22:36.623 --> 00:22:39.793 By the way, this is inspired by a true story. 00:22:39.859 --> 00:22:46.032 So, if you go to a temple in Tokyo, 00:22:46.066 --> 00:22:49.869 it's called Sengakuji, it's close to Shinagawa station, 00:22:49.903 --> 00:22:52.472 you can visit the tombs of the 47 Ronins. 00:22:56.910 --> 00:23:02.716 This play had enormous impact 00:23:02.749 --> 00:23:07.120 on Japanese perception of low injustice. 00:23:07.153 --> 00:23:09.556 And then, let me move to another story. 00:23:09.622 --> 00:23:14.861 Again, this the today's presentation will grow in a chronological order. 00:23:14.894 --> 00:23:18.331 We start from the law of the Tokugawa, which we are discussing now. 00:23:18.365 --> 00:23:21.768 And we will come to contemporary law at the end of the class. 00:23:23.436 --> 00:23:25.405 So, this is another story. 00:23:25.438 --> 00:23:27.240 This is a ghost story. 00:23:27.273 --> 00:23:33.246 Now, ghost stories in the Tokugawa period were very, very popular. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:37.183 The Tokugawa period was, generally speaking, a period of peace. 00:23:37.217 --> 00:23:42.355 The Tokugawa had unified Japan after a couple of centuries of war. 00:23:42.389 --> 00:23:47.027 And when there is peace, the ghost stories become popular 00:23:47.093 --> 00:23:51.898 because when there is war, people don't want to joke about 00:23:51.931 --> 00:23:56.736 like dying or dead spirits because people die in wars. 00:23:56.803 --> 00:24:02.108 But during the peace, this becomes a bit more less a taboo topic. 00:24:02.142 --> 00:24:07.180 So, ghost stories were very popular, but they were also very, very important 00:24:07.213 --> 00:24:10.817 in terms of the social role they performed. 00:24:10.850 --> 00:24:11.985 What do I mean by that? 00:24:13.586 --> 00:24:17.724 A recurring topic in Japanese ghost stories 00:24:17.757 --> 00:24:22.395 in the 17th and 18th century is there is somebody weak. 00:24:24.431 --> 00:24:29.936 A servant, a farmer, a woman ... 00:24:32.505 --> 00:24:38.244 who is oppressed by somebody stronger socially. 00:24:38.278 --> 00:24:42.816 So, the servant is oppressed by the master. 00:24:42.849 --> 00:24:48.588 The farmer is oppressed by the noble. 00:24:48.655 --> 00:24:50.523 The woman is oppressed by the man. 00:24:53.159 --> 00:24:58.298 In that sense, the power relationship between men and women was unbalanced 00:24:58.331 --> 00:24:59.399 in favor of men. 00:24:59.432 --> 00:25:02.869 So, wives had less power than their husbands, generally speaking. 00:25:05.138 --> 00:25:10.143 So, these weak person, whoever they are, are oppressed 00:25:10.210 --> 00:25:12.879 to the point that they die. 00:25:12.912 --> 00:25:18.818 But since their death was unjust, they will come back as ghosts 00:25:18.852 --> 00:25:23.456 to commit revenge to restore justice. 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:29.429 And so, during the Tokugawa period, the ghost stories were these kinds of 00:25:29.496 --> 00:25:34.300 like satire admonishment to power. 00:25:34.334 --> 00:25:37.704 The Tokugawa were really, really strict about censorship, 00:25:37.737 --> 00:25:42.776 so you could not criticize the Tokugawa Shogunate directly. 00:25:42.809 --> 00:25:49.082 But using these stories ... there is a critic to the power, 00:25:49.115 --> 00:25:55.321 but is so in direct that it was not blocked by the censorship. 00:25:55.355 --> 00:26:00.427 So, for example, in this case, what's the story of Sakura Sōgorō? 00:26:00.460 --> 00:26:02.962 Sakura Sōgorō was a farmer. 00:26:02.996 --> 00:26:09.202 And in the Tokugawa period, taxes were paid in nature, 00:26:09.269 --> 00:26:13.406 so like in the rice, or in other kinds of goods. 00:26:15.075 --> 00:26:21.948 And in this story, the crop is really, really bad that year. 00:26:21.981 --> 00:26:26.820 So, the farmers have no way to pay taxes and survive. 00:26:26.853 --> 00:26:30.390 They do not have enough resources to do both. 00:26:30.423 --> 00:26:36.663 So, they will ask the local noble to reduce the taxes 00:26:36.696 --> 00:26:39.532 because otherwise, they cannot survive. 00:26:39.566 --> 00:26:43.570 But the noble refuses to reduce taxes. 00:26:43.603 --> 00:26:48.808 So, those farmers are basically faced with starvation. 00:26:48.875 --> 00:26:54.247 So, they decide to bring the matter to the Shogun directly. 00:26:54.314 --> 00:27:00.687 And so, their representative who is Sakura Sōgorō 00:27:00.754 --> 00:27:07.660 goes to Edo, the shogunate capital, to bring a petition to the Shogun, 00:27:07.727 --> 00:27:12.198 to ask the Shogun to order the noble to reduce taxes. 00:27:12.232 --> 00:27:16.636 Now, this was possible under Tokugawa law, 00:27:16.670 --> 00:27:18.772 but at the same time, was forbidden. 00:27:20.407 --> 00:27:22.842 What was the meaning of this sentence? 00:27:22.876 --> 00:27:28.948 The petition this person was bringing to the Shogun was a valid petition. 00:27:28.982 --> 00:27:33.920 So, the Shogun could hear the petition and act accordingly, 00:27:33.953 --> 00:27:36.623 and order the noble to reduce taxes. 00:27:36.656 --> 00:27:41.861 But presenting the petition without an official permission 00:27:41.895 --> 00:27:45.498 was a crime punishable by death. 00:27:45.532 --> 00:27:50.937 So, Sakura Sōgorō knows he is going to die while he presents the petition, 00:27:50.970 --> 00:27:54.641 but he does that nevertheless, to save his people. 00:27:54.674 --> 00:27:58.211 So, he goes to Edo, present the petition, 00:27:58.244 --> 00:28:02.716 goes back to his thief and is killed by the evil noble 00:28:02.749 --> 00:28:08.922 but then comes back as a ghost and basically torments the evil noble 00:28:08.955 --> 00:28:11.691 until the noble repents 00:28:11.725 --> 00:28:16.529 and realizes his actions were wrong. 00:28:16.596 --> 00:28:22.702 And at the end of the story, he builds a shrine in the memory of Sakura Sogoro. 00:28:22.736 --> 00:28:28.241 So, justice is done by these supernatural means, 00:28:28.274 --> 00:28:32.312 the ghost is the agent of justice in this sense. 00:28:32.379 --> 00:28:37.384 Okay, let's move to another. 00:28:37.417 --> 00:28:41.488 This is a book is called Hanshichi Torimonocho. 00:28:41.521 --> 00:28:44.424 In English, it is The Curious Case book of Inspector Hanshichi. 00:28:46.326 --> 00:28:51.965 Now, we are in a different phase of Japanese history. 00:28:52.032 --> 00:28:56.870 You know, Japanese history is divided into several periods the period in which 00:28:56.903 --> 00:29:01.441 the Tokugawa Shogunate was in power is known as the Edo period 00:29:01.474 --> 00:29:06.479 because their capital was in Edo, the city which now is Tokyo. 00:29:06.513 --> 00:29:11.351 And then, when Japan had to open to the foreigners 00:29:11.384 --> 00:29:18.291 because of the pressure by the United States and by other powers, 00:29:18.358 --> 00:29:25.265 the Shogunate lost power and imperial power was restored. 00:29:25.298 --> 00:29:28.268 So, we had the Meiji Restoration. 00:29:28.301 --> 00:29:33.807 Now, in the period between the end of the Shogunate 00:29:33.873 --> 00:29:37.577 and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, 00:29:37.610 --> 00:29:43.783 the thing were very confusing because the Shogun had lost the power 00:29:43.817 --> 00:29:48.755 to effectively control the country, but the Emperor ... 00:29:48.788 --> 00:29:54.127 when the Emperor came to power, all the new imperial system 00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:57.230 had to be designed from scratch basically. 00:29:57.263 --> 00:30:00.133 So, we have these phases of confusion 00:30:00.166 --> 00:30:04.604 in which it is not really clear who is in charge of what. 00:30:04.637 --> 00:30:11.611 And this is like detective stories, as the title in English says. 00:30:14.114 --> 00:30:18.218 It's fascinating to see this Inspector Hanshichi 00:30:18.251 --> 00:30:23.923 who is a police officer, let's say, 00:30:23.957 --> 00:30:29.863 because what Hanshichi does is not clear 00:30:29.896 --> 00:30:34.034 whether it's legal or illegal, basically we don't care 00:30:34.067 --> 00:30:38.905 because he is perceived as authority by the people 00:30:38.938 --> 00:30:43.777 which means there is, again, like this text is very fascinating to see 00:30:43.810 --> 00:30:49.015 how people attached power to legitimacy, 00:30:49.049 --> 00:30:51.618 to authority rather than law, 00:30:51.651 --> 00:30:56.856 and explains very well this period of confusion in Japanese modernization. 00:30:59.426 --> 00:31:02.262 Okay, let's move to another literary product. 00:31:02.295 --> 00:31:04.698 This time is an opera. 00:31:04.731 --> 00:31:09.602 I'm Italian. I like classical music, I like opera. 00:31:09.636 --> 00:31:13.039 And this opera is called Madama Butterfly. 00:31:13.073 --> 00:31:19.346 And the composer is this very famous Italian composer called Giacomo Puccini. 00:31:19.412 --> 00:31:23.783 And I don't know if you've ever heard of Madama Butterfly 00:31:23.817 --> 00:31:27.954 or if you ever watched the opera performed. 00:31:28.021 --> 00:31:34.461 The Madama Butterfly is probably the one single cultural product 00:31:34.494 --> 00:31:39.899 which shaped the imagination about Japanese women in Europe. 00:31:39.933 --> 00:31:45.638 So, the story is about these American Navy officer 00:31:45.672 --> 00:31:49.943 who has to station in Japan for a few months. 00:31:49.976 --> 00:31:53.446 And he gets married to a Japanese girl. 00:31:55.715 --> 00:31:58.985 But he is not really serious about the marriage. 00:31:59.019 --> 00:32:03.089 So, he knows he will stay in Japan for only a few months. 00:32:03.156 --> 00:32:08.661 And he decides to get married to this Japanese woman. 00:32:08.695 --> 00:32:15.235 So, asks basically a matchmaker to arrange a marriage with this girl. 00:32:15.268 --> 00:32:17.937 But he says, like, well, I will leave the country 00:32:18.004 --> 00:32:20.940 and when I leave the country, the marriage is over. 00:32:20.974 --> 00:32:24.544 I can just walk out of a marriage like this. 00:32:27.180 --> 00:32:30.316 Whereas Butterfly, the girl, she's really attached, 00:32:30.383 --> 00:32:33.820 and again, there is the tragic element. 00:32:33.853 --> 00:32:39.993 I try to limit my spoiler generally during this presentation. 00:32:40.026 --> 00:32:43.630 But what's very fascinating is that 00:32:43.663 --> 00:32:50.136 this opera is based on true story, which was not tragic. 00:32:50.170 --> 00:32:55.208 The true story of a French navy officer who was in Japan for a few months, 00:32:55.241 --> 00:32:57.744 and decided to get married to a woman. 00:32:57.777 --> 00:33:03.450 But in the real story, the woman was not particularly interested 00:33:03.516 --> 00:33:05.285 in remaining married to this man. 00:33:05.318 --> 00:33:08.321 It was basically a contract. 00:33:08.388 --> 00:33:11.424 So, then, he leaves Japan, and this is the end of the story. 00:33:12.992 --> 00:33:15.829 Now the real story is, 00:33:15.895 --> 00:33:20.533 at the end of the 19th century 00:33:20.567 --> 00:33:24.504 but before the new Japanese laws were enacted, 00:33:24.537 --> 00:33:31.478 whereas the Madama Butterfly is set in the beginning of the 20th century. 00:33:31.511 --> 00:33:38.018 And what's fascinating is that in the story, the main protagonist, 00:33:38.051 --> 00:33:41.688 the Navy officer, thinks well, we're in Japan. 00:33:41.755 --> 00:33:46.760 Here, just like walking away means you get a divorce, that's easy. 00:33:46.793 --> 00:33:50.797 Man can leave women as they wish. 00:33:50.830 --> 00:33:52.699 And that was not true actually. 00:33:52.732 --> 00:33:55.568 Japan had changed the law, and that was not possible anymore, 00:33:55.602 --> 00:33:59.406 but even that even before that, it was not so easy for a man 00:33:59.439 --> 00:34:03.710 to just like relinquish a wife. 00:34:03.743 --> 00:34:09.382 But these works give the idea on how Western people, 00:34:09.416 --> 00:34:15.155 of course, 100 something years ago, had this perception of Japan as a place 00:34:15.188 --> 00:34:18.158 where basically men could do whatever they wanted, 00:34:18.191 --> 00:34:20.760 so it is fascinating in this regard. 00:34:20.794 --> 00:34:25.565 And by the way, they discussed the law quite a lot in the plot. 00:34:25.598 --> 00:34:31.805 And the person who in reality gives the best interpretation of the law 00:34:31.838 --> 00:34:34.808 is actually the young Japanese girl, she's a better lawyer 00:34:34.841 --> 00:34:37.410 than everybody else in the representation. 00:34:39.779 --> 00:34:44.918 Okay, let me move to ... this is a collection of short stories ... 00:34:46.686 --> 00:34:52.459 is called Akuma no deshi, which means the devil's disciple. 00:34:52.492 --> 00:34:58.498 I generally use the English covers because this class is in English. 00:34:58.531 --> 00:35:03.136 And if somebody gets interested in reading any of these books, 00:35:03.169 --> 00:35:07.407 I want to provide them with also like the English version. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:13.680 Now, this book and its collection of stories 00:35:13.713 --> 00:35:19.753 is very fascinating because it's written by a Japanese author, Hamao Shiro. 00:35:19.786 --> 00:35:25.291 He is one of the first Japanese prosecutors. 00:35:25.358 --> 00:35:27.827 When the Japanese system was made modern, 00:35:27.894 --> 00:35:31.664 they had created the system based on Western law, 00:35:31.698 --> 00:35:35.468 continental European legislation basically. 00:35:35.535 --> 00:35:38.338 They put in place a procedural system, 00:35:38.371 --> 00:35:42.509 and that originally was based on the French procedural system, 00:35:42.542 --> 00:35:46.513 then it became more based on the German procedural system. 00:35:46.546 --> 00:35:52.652 Anyway, this man was a noble, was the descendants of 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:58.591 two of the most powerful families during the Meiji Restoration. 00:35:58.625 --> 00:36:02.662 And he studied law, he was a prosecutor. 00:36:02.729 --> 00:36:07.067 And then he decided to give up his legal career to become a novelist. 00:36:07.100 --> 00:36:09.502 Families were not particularly happy. 00:36:09.536 --> 00:36:14.007 Now, what's very fascinating is that during this period, 00:36:14.074 --> 00:36:18.678 when the Japanese had finished modernizing the legal system, 00:36:18.712 --> 00:36:21.614 in a very short period of time, 00:36:21.648 --> 00:36:27.053 Japan went from Tokugawa law to legal system, 00:36:27.087 --> 00:36:31.558 which was comparable to best legal system in Europe. 00:36:33.159 --> 00:36:37.564 When they completed these amazing efforts to modernize the legal system, 00:36:37.630 --> 00:36:42.535 the Japanese were very proud of the bodies of law they created. 00:36:42.569 --> 00:36:46.506 And so, they had the some kind of trust in the legal system, 00:36:46.539 --> 00:36:50.977 say, okay, now the legal system is good, the legal system can deliver justice. 00:36:51.011 --> 00:36:55.882 And this person actually is very critical about the legal system 00:36:55.915 --> 00:36:58.752 from an insider perspective, because he's a prosecutor. 00:36:58.785 --> 00:37:04.991 So, he knows how a procedure works, and uses his novels to show 00:37:05.025 --> 00:37:08.461 a number of criticalities of the Japanese legal system. 00:37:08.495 --> 00:37:11.264 Some of them are still valid today. 00:37:11.297 --> 00:37:13.967 For example, in the Japanese legal system 00:37:14.034 --> 00:37:18.104 is very difficult to overturn a confession. 00:37:18.138 --> 00:37:23.176 If somebody confessed something, even if the confession is false, 00:37:23.243 --> 00:37:27.614 maybe because they want to cover the crime committed by somebody else, 00:37:27.681 --> 00:37:31.918 it's very, very difficult to overturn a false confession. 00:37:31.951 --> 00:37:34.988 And it's true still today. 00:37:35.021 --> 00:37:39.592 But it's very fascinating that how those novels are written 00:37:39.626 --> 00:37:42.228 because they're kind of anticlimax. 00:37:42.262 --> 00:37:47.167 So, the characters start with this idea 00:37:47.200 --> 00:37:49.502 that the legal system is perfect. 00:37:49.536 --> 00:37:53.473 And then this idea crumbles before their eyes. 00:37:53.506 --> 00:37:59.479 So, it's very ... how to say ... well, he was very competent as a lawyer. 00:37:59.546 --> 00:38:04.484 So, it can be like very, very precise in spotting all the weak points 00:38:04.517 --> 00:38:05.952 of the Japanese legal system. 00:38:08.421 --> 00:38:12.659 Okay, let's move to a book written by an American author, 00:38:12.692 --> 00:38:16.429 a contemporary author, he is still alive. 00:38:16.463 --> 00:38:20.367 And the book is Tokyo Year Zero, the author is David Peace. 00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:25.038 And the book is based, 00:38:25.071 --> 00:38:29.809 the plot is set in Japan immediately after World War II, 00:38:29.876 --> 00:38:36.349 when Japan was occupied by the allies, unlike Germany, 00:38:36.416 --> 00:38:39.586 which was divided into areas of influence, 00:38:39.619 --> 00:38:44.691 so was occupied by the Soviet, the Americans, the British and the French, 00:38:44.758 --> 00:38:50.630 Japan was mostly occupied by the American forces. 00:38:50.663 --> 00:38:55.802 And this period is very complex from a legal point of view 00:38:55.835 --> 00:39:02.475 because you have the occupation forces, they are basically around the country, 00:39:02.509 --> 00:39:05.178 but at the same time, you have a Japanese parliament, 00:39:05.211 --> 00:39:08.415 you have a Japanese government, you have a Japanese Emperor. 00:39:08.448 --> 00:39:13.086 And so, those Japanese institution are still in place there. 00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:17.323 So, the relationship between 00:39:17.357 --> 00:39:21.961 the Japanese institutions, the Japanese authorities, 00:39:21.995 --> 00:39:25.031 and the occupation forces is very complex 00:39:25.065 --> 00:39:27.333 from a legal point of view, like who is running the country. 00:39:29.302 --> 00:39:32.906 Now, this book is, again, like an investigation story. 00:39:35.975 --> 00:39:42.749 Law is not central to the plot, but there are some passages 00:39:42.816 --> 00:39:47.387 that are quite revealing of these difficult relationships. 00:39:47.420 --> 00:39:50.990 For example, there is the American military police 00:39:51.024 --> 00:39:53.927 investigating the Japanese police 00:39:53.993 --> 00:39:56.996 and the Japanese police investigating some other crimes. 00:40:00.200 --> 00:40:03.370 This book, again, is written by a contemporary author. 00:40:03.403 --> 00:40:06.473 So, he was not there. 00:40:06.506 --> 00:40:12.512 But he used, as main sources for this book, 00:40:12.545 --> 00:40:18.218 wonderful historical research made by other scholars. 00:40:18.251 --> 00:40:22.989 So, it's fairly accurate from an historical point of view. 00:40:25.658 --> 00:40:32.632 Now, let's fast-forward to the beginning of the '90s. 00:40:32.665 --> 00:40:38.605 As you know, Japan, after the post war reconstruction, 00:40:38.638 --> 00:40:42.809 had experienced this amazing economic growth. 00:40:42.876 --> 00:40:46.813 So, Japan was booming for many decades. 00:40:46.846 --> 00:40:53.119 And in the '80s, Japan entered into 00:40:53.186 --> 00:40:55.955 what is called like a bubble economy. 00:40:55.989 --> 00:41:01.127 So, for a few conjunctural reasons 00:41:01.194 --> 00:41:05.131 and because of some macroeconomic decisions, 00:41:05.165 --> 00:41:10.136 Japan became extremely powerful from an economic point of view. 00:41:12.839 --> 00:41:16.976 And the problem was that 00:41:17.010 --> 00:41:21.915 this fast growth, 00:41:21.948 --> 00:41:25.752 for example, in the real estate industry, 00:41:25.819 --> 00:41:30.056 spiraled out of control and became what is called a bubble, 00:41:30.090 --> 00:41:31.858 like a speculative bubble. 00:41:31.891 --> 00:41:36.162 So, eventually, in Japan, this bubble collapsed, 00:41:36.196 --> 00:41:42.335 and Japan entered into a period of ... not recession, but stagnation. 00:41:42.369 --> 00:41:46.006 And we still live now in the aftermath of that stagnation. 00:41:47.607 --> 00:41:51.611 Generally speaking, the Japanese economy is steady. 00:41:51.644 --> 00:41:55.782 Sometimes it grows, sometimes it like declines a little bit, 00:41:55.815 --> 00:42:00.086 but it overall is not particularly dynamic. 00:42:00.120 --> 00:42:04.391 Now, this book, which is calling Japanese Kasha, 00:42:04.457 --> 00:42:09.262 in English, "All She Was Worth" by Miyuki Miyabe, 00:42:09.295 --> 00:42:12.866 it's, again, the tactical story. 00:42:12.899 --> 00:42:18.805 But this book is set just after the bubble collapsed. 00:42:18.838 --> 00:42:21.541 And after the collapse of the bubble, 00:42:21.574 --> 00:42:24.110 there were many problems in the Japanese society. 00:42:24.144 --> 00:42:25.779 Because when the economy was growing, 00:42:25.812 --> 00:42:28.848 people were borrowing a lot of money to buy stuff 00:42:28.915 --> 00:42:33.119 because there was this idea that like next month's income will be higher 00:42:33.153 --> 00:42:34.754 than last month income. 00:42:34.788 --> 00:42:37.757 So, why not spending, what I enjoy not taking part 00:42:37.824 --> 00:42:41.261 in these economic enthusiasm. 00:42:41.294 --> 00:42:45.699 But then when the bubble collapsed, 00:42:45.765 --> 00:42:49.636 many people were left with a lot of debts, 00:42:49.669 --> 00:42:54.107 and many people had 00:42:54.140 --> 00:42:57.077 bankruptcy-like situations. 00:42:57.110 --> 00:42:58.778 And that was a huge social problem. 00:42:58.812 --> 00:43:02.549 Now, the author, she is not a lawyer, 00:43:02.615 --> 00:43:07.120 but she conducted amazingly good legal research. 00:43:07.153 --> 00:43:14.127 If you read this book, you will learn so much about loans 00:43:14.160 --> 00:43:17.764 and their legal regulation in the early 90s. 00:43:17.797 --> 00:43:23.169 You will learn probably the same as if you were taking the law classes on that. 00:43:23.203 --> 00:43:26.406 That's why many of my Japanese colleague interested in law and literature 00:43:26.439 --> 00:43:28.108 use this book. 00:43:28.141 --> 00:43:30.310 And also this book is very fascinating 00:43:30.343 --> 00:43:34.381 because it explains some features unique of Japanese law. 00:43:34.414 --> 00:43:36.282 So, for example, I don't know ... 00:43:36.316 --> 00:43:38.385 well, if you are Japanese, of course, you know that. 00:43:38.418 --> 00:43:41.755 But even if you're a foreigner, you might have heard of the koseki, 00:43:41.788 --> 00:43:46.593 the family registration in Japan, the family registry. 00:43:46.626 --> 00:43:50.597 Now, this ... again, I don't want to spoil the book. 00:43:50.630 --> 00:43:54.534 But the main issue in this book 00:43:54.567 --> 00:44:01.141 revolves around the use of koseki, and the fact that in Japan, 00:44:01.174 --> 00:44:06.513 legal identity basically cannot be disproved. 00:44:06.579 --> 00:44:10.283 So, if somebody has all the paperwork in place, 00:44:10.316 --> 00:44:16.089 it is almost impossible to spot out like an impersonator, for example. 00:44:16.156 --> 00:44:19.693 And again, like this book explains the koseki system 00:44:19.726 --> 00:44:24.164 in a very, very clear and precise way. 00:44:24.197 --> 00:44:27.167 So, it's really a good book from a legal point of view. 00:44:29.235 --> 00:44:34.474 Okay, very quickly, because he is probably the most famous 00:44:34.541 --> 00:44:38.044 Japanese contemporary author, Haruki Murakami. 00:44:38.078 --> 00:44:39.779 This is a Dance, Dance, Dance. 00:44:43.683 --> 00:44:47.787 In this book, there is a bit more than one chapter, 00:44:47.854 --> 00:44:50.757 which is a police interrogation. 00:44:50.790 --> 00:44:53.993 And even though the law plays a very marginal role in the plot, 00:44:54.027 --> 00:44:58.398 the police interrogation scene, it's very, very important 00:44:58.431 --> 00:45:02.802 because it conveys all the uneasiness 00:45:02.836 --> 00:45:07.874 and how uncomfortable can be the experience of 00:45:07.907 --> 00:45:10.377 dealing with a police interrogation in Japan. 00:45:10.410 --> 00:45:12.912 And this is a problem. 00:45:12.946 --> 00:45:18.018 In Japan ... Japan is a liberal democracy. 00:45:18.051 --> 00:45:23.656 It is a wonderful, safe country, but the regulation of some legal institution, 00:45:23.690 --> 00:45:29.863 for example, investigation and criminal procedure, 00:45:29.896 --> 00:45:32.098 it's kind of strange. 00:45:32.132 --> 00:45:36.202 For example, you might have heard about the Ghosn's case, last year, 00:45:36.236 --> 00:45:37.937 the CEO of Nissan. 00:45:40.106 --> 00:45:43.810 The Japanese prosecutors and the Japanese police has the power 00:45:43.843 --> 00:45:47.847 to keep people under custody for a very long time 00:45:47.881 --> 00:45:49.883 even without a formal indictment. 00:45:49.916 --> 00:45:53.286 So, even if somebody is just suspect of something, 00:45:53.319 --> 00:45:57.557 they can be kept under custody for many, many days. 00:45:57.590 --> 00:46:02.495 And another feature is that the police interrogation can really be annoying, 00:46:02.562 --> 00:46:06.599 if not some form of abuse. 00:46:06.666 --> 00:46:11.971 That's why after many years, recently, the legislation was changed 00:46:12.005 --> 00:46:15.942 to allow videotaping of the police interrogation and so on. 00:46:16.009 --> 00:46:19.012 So, now the scene in the book is not particularly brutal, 00:46:19.045 --> 00:46:21.147 is not violent, or anything, 00:46:21.181 --> 00:46:27.153 but it conveys this feeling of like uneasiness, 00:46:27.187 --> 00:46:29.522 like the main character has in dealing with that. 00:46:31.958 --> 00:46:37.630 This is a kind of a crazy book, is a recent one. 00:46:37.697 --> 00:46:43.436 And what's fascinating about this book, from a legal point of view, is that 00:46:43.503 --> 00:46:45.005 in some pages, there are like 00:46:45.038 --> 00:46:48.975 the text of the law becomes part of the narration. 00:46:49.042 --> 00:46:52.445 So, this book is about ... 00:46:52.479 --> 00:46:56.182 let's say that the theme behind this book is like nationality, 00:46:56.249 --> 00:47:00.286 who is Japanese, and what does it mean to be Japanese? 00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:04.858 So, nationality from a legal and identitarian point of view. 00:47:04.891 --> 00:47:10.030 But it's kind of strange to see these pieces of law 00:47:10.063 --> 00:47:12.599 becoming part of a novel. 00:47:15.001 --> 00:47:19.739 And the last book I'm dealing with today is like Sweet Bean Paste. 00:47:19.773 --> 00:47:21.908 In Japanese, it is "An." 00:47:21.975 --> 00:47:28.648 And in this book, it is a very delicate, very nice book. 00:47:28.682 --> 00:47:35.055 But at the same time, it highlights some dark side again of Japanese society, 00:47:35.121 --> 00:47:39.325 because some minorities during Japanese history 00:47:39.392 --> 00:47:42.328 have been discriminated from a legal point of view. 00:47:42.362 --> 00:47:46.332 And some of them have been discriminated in a very hard way. 00:47:46.366 --> 00:47:50.136 For example, some people who had some specific illnesses 00:47:50.170 --> 00:47:53.239 were heavily discriminated by the Japanese law. 00:47:53.273 --> 00:47:59.012 And it's only very recently that we came to not only legal change, 00:47:59.045 --> 00:48:03.283 but also reparation for the suffering those people have been through. 00:48:03.316 --> 00:48:09.923 So, the underlying theme 00:48:09.956 --> 00:48:13.793 behind this book is like discrimination and injustice, 00:48:13.827 --> 00:48:16.563 but in this very, very delicate and engaging way. 00:48:19.532 --> 00:48:21.301 Wow, again, so ... 00:48:23.269 --> 00:48:26.806 we had a change in law and society in Japan, 00:48:26.873 --> 00:48:33.646 and we had a reform in 2001 to bring law closer to the people. 00:48:33.680 --> 00:48:38.451 In 2001, there was a big reform in Japanese law. 00:48:38.518 --> 00:48:42.322 And we had, for example, the introduction of the jury system. 00:48:44.124 --> 00:48:47.727 The jury system in Japan does not work like the American jury. 00:48:47.761 --> 00:48:52.832 So, like 12 people, 12 lay people taken from the citizens. 00:48:52.866 --> 00:48:59.606 And the jury in Japan is a mixed jury between judges and lay people. 00:48:59.639 --> 00:49:04.644 And the main purpose of the jury in Japan is 00:49:04.678 --> 00:49:09.716 not to have a more equitable process, 00:49:09.749 --> 00:49:13.253 but it's to make normal people understand the law. 00:49:15.355 --> 00:49:19.025 And we also had like the law school reform ... 00:49:19.059 --> 00:49:23.596 as you know, even Nagoya university as a law school, Hoka daigakuin. 00:49:23.663 --> 00:49:28.735 Hoka daigakuin is a Japanese name, but in common jargon, 00:49:28.768 --> 00:49:31.805 we call it like a law school in katakana 00:49:31.838 --> 00:49:34.641 because it's inspired by the American law school system. 00:49:34.674 --> 00:49:38.011 And one of the key features behind the law school was that 00:49:38.044 --> 00:49:41.214 we wanted people, without a strictly legal background, 00:49:41.281 --> 00:49:44.117 to also study law to bring more diversity, 00:49:44.184 --> 00:49:50.724 to have more people not originally from legal studies 00:49:50.757 --> 00:49:52.459 to get interested into law. 00:49:52.492 --> 00:49:56.429 That created somehow an interest in law. 00:49:56.463 --> 00:49:58.598 We have movies, this is very good. 00:49:58.665 --> 00:50:01.101 This is Soredemo Bokuha Yattenai, 00:50:01.134 --> 00:50:06.873 it's a movie about a guy accused of a crime, 00:50:06.940 --> 00:50:10.977 and all the difficulties he goes through because of that. 00:50:11.044 --> 00:50:15.382 And as an Australian colleague said, Professor Kent Anderson, 00:50:15.415 --> 00:50:20.787 watching this movie is the closer thing you can do than going to the court. 00:50:20.820 --> 00:50:25.358 And this is a recent movie, Sandome no Satsujin, by Kore-eda. 00:50:25.392 --> 00:50:30.930 So, a very famous and acclaimed Japanese director. 00:50:30.964 --> 00:50:36.169 This is also about the idea that it is very difficult to reverse a confection. 00:50:36.202 --> 00:50:41.441 And this is a Netflix series about the Tokyo Trial, which is the trial they had 00:50:41.474 --> 00:50:47.747 after the war for Japanese accused of being war criminals. 00:50:47.781 --> 00:50:50.350 It's not particularly exciting as a TV series. 00:50:50.383 --> 00:50:52.218 I mean, it is not Breaking Bad. 00:50:52.252 --> 00:50:57.023 But it's kind of fascinating that 00:50:57.057 --> 00:51:00.126 these kinds of series are being produced. 00:51:00.160 --> 00:51:03.430 Then there are like TV series ... 00:51:03.463 --> 00:51:07.734 the TV entertainment programs vaguely inspired by law. 00:51:07.767 --> 00:51:10.904 This is like "Gyoretsunodekiruhoritsusoudanjo". 00:51:10.937 --> 00:51:14.841 It's comedy, but there are these kind of legal questions behind. 00:51:14.874 --> 00:51:18.645 And we have this crazy video game, which is like Gyakuten Saiban. 00:51:18.678 --> 00:51:20.647 In English, it is Ace Attorney. 00:51:20.714 --> 00:51:25.218 With this, flamboyant representation of law, and the lawyers ... 00:51:25.251 --> 00:51:27.854 again, like bringing the law closer to society. 00:51:30.890 --> 00:51:35.328 We are also becoming a bit more flexible about that in academia. 00:51:35.362 --> 00:51:38.498 This is a book that was published a couple of years ago. 00:51:38.531 --> 00:51:41.901 And it's a collection of essays about the relationship 00:51:41.935 --> 00:51:44.604 between the law and justice in Japanese popular culture. 00:51:44.671 --> 00:51:49.342 I contributed with a chapter, but there are some way more interesting chapter 00:51:49.376 --> 00:51:55.115 like that Death Note, the manga slash anime, and the Death Penalty, 00:51:55.148 --> 00:51:58.785 or like the representation of justice in ONE PIECE. 00:51:58.818 --> 00:52:02.756 So, these kinds of very, very inclusive research. 00:52:02.789 --> 00:52:07.127 So, to conclude, this is a very fascinating area of research. 00:52:07.160 --> 00:52:09.362 I say that because it's my area of research. 00:52:09.396 --> 00:52:11.698 So, of course, it's fascinating to me. 00:52:11.731 --> 00:52:17.203 But I hope you will agree that like approaching law in this way 00:52:17.237 --> 00:52:21.374 is more entertaining than reading law books. 00:52:21.408 --> 00:52:27.947 But what's important is that aside from the entertainment aspect of that, 00:52:27.981 --> 00:52:29.149 it's really useful. 00:52:29.182 --> 00:52:32.452 Again, as I said, in the introduction, you will learn way more 00:52:32.485 --> 00:52:37.190 about the legal system through non-legal sources sometimes 00:52:37.223 --> 00:52:40.260 than you will learn reading law books. 00:52:40.293 --> 00:52:45.098 But while this field is very developed in the other countries, 00:52:45.131 --> 00:52:48.968 in Japan, we are kind of still at the beginning. 00:52:49.002 --> 00:52:52.706 There are some wonderful scholars at the University of Hokkaido, 00:52:52.739 --> 00:52:56.676 who are very, very good, other colleagues are very good, 00:52:56.743 --> 00:52:59.045 but I think we should know more. 00:52:59.079 --> 00:53:03.783 And particularly, we will like if any of you is interested in literature, 00:53:03.817 --> 00:53:06.753 from a literary point of view, it would be nice to reach out 00:53:06.786 --> 00:53:11.358 and maybe do joint research together from a legal perspective 00:53:11.391 --> 00:53:13.493 and from literary study perspective. 00:53:15.261 --> 00:53:18.998 Okay, that concludes my presentation for today. 00:53:19.032 --> 00:53:21.668 I hope you enjoyed that. 00:53:21.701 --> 00:53:24.037 And thank you very much for your attention. 00:53:24.070 --> 00:53:30.643 So, these are my contacts, my email, and my academia page. 00:53:30.677 --> 00:53:35.281 So, in case, I stirred your curiosity, and if you want to ask something, 00:53:35.315 --> 00:53:40.787 or if you're curious about some specific work, don't hesitate to reach out to me. 00:53:40.820 --> 00:53:43.490 So, that's all for today. Thank you very much.