The Japanese Way of Justice
Prosecuting Crime in Japan
David T. Johnson
Reviews and Awards
Co- winner of the American Sociological Association's Sociology of Law Section Distinguished Book Award
The Japanese Way of Justice makes an outstanding contributionto both scholarship on the Japanese criminal justice system and comparative sociolegal research in general. The author communicates his thoughts so well that anyone generally interested in criminal prosecution will find it of interest." --Law and Politics Book Review
"Americans like to think that Japan is evolving into an Anglo-American-style 'liberal democracy.' Nowhere are they more wrong than in a comparison of the two countries' criminal justice systems. The independence of Japan's prosecutors and their decisions to indict based on social impact, not a citizen's complaint, is totally alien to our system, but it may deliver more justice. David Johnson's truly brilliant analysis is an eye-opener."--Chalmers Johnson, Japan Policy Research Institute
"This is a superb book. David Johnson provides a detailed and nuanced account of the vitally important role played by prosecutors in Japan, based on several months of direct personal observation inside a large prosecutor's office, together with extensive interviews, surveys and other research. This book will immediately occupy a place as one of the most important works on the Japanese criminal justice system in any language."--Daniel H. Foote, University of Tokyo Faculty of Law
"This is quite simply the best book on the administration of justice in Japan in English or in any other language.... With its concern for context, theory, and method it offers a sophisticated analysis that is unparalleled in studies of the Japanese legal system. Indeed, it sets a new standard for comparative sociolegal scholarship generally. Comparative scholars, regardless of their particular focus, will benefit from a close reading of this book."--Malcolm M. Feeley, University of California at Berkeley