Think Global, Fear Local: Sex, Violence, and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan

251 Pages·2009·12.28 MB·English

by  David Leheny

sex, violence, and anxiety in contemporary japan
DAVID LEHENY
THINK GLOBAL, FEAR LOCAL

THINK liLDBRL., FERR LOCAL
SEX, VIOLENCE, ANXIETY IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN
AND
DAVID LEHENY
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
ITHRCR RN□ LONDON
Copyright© 2006 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review,
this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any
form without permission in writing from the publisher. For
information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House,
512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2006 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Scott Levine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leheny, David Richard, 1967-
Think global, fear local : sex, violence, and anxiety in
contemporary Japan / David Leheny.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-7534-4
I. Fear-Social aspects-Japan. 2. Violence-Social
aspects-Japan. 3. Sex-Social aspects-Japan.
4. Japan-Social conditions-1945- I. Title.
HN723.5.L45 2006
306.0952'09051 l-dc22
2005028794
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Cloth printing I0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FDR MY PRRENTS, JOSEPH RND SRNDRR LEHENY

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Japanese Terms and Conventions xm
List of Abbreviations xv
Chapter One. Fear, Norms, and Politics
in Contemporary Japan 1
Chapter Two. A "Vague Anxiety" in 1990sJapan 27
Chapter Three. "Whatever It Is, It's Bad, So Stop It" 49
Chapter Four. Guidance, Protection, and
Punishment in Japan's Child Sex Laws 85
Chapter Five. Trust in Japan, Not in Counterterrorism 115
Chapter Six. The Self-Fulfilling Afterthought 14 7
Chapter Seven. Local Scapegoats and
Other Unintended Consequences 183
Notes 193
Index 221

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the tolerance, encour
agement, and support of a great number of friends and colleagues. First
among these are those in Japan who gave generously of their time and
wisdom. Itabashi Isao and Kawamoto Shiro of the Council for Public Pol
icy have been friends and advisers since I began to work on terrorism,
and although our views on counterterrorism often diverge, I hope they
know how grateful I am for their unfailingly shrewd advice. I also greatly
appreciate the help of þÿ(cid:0)G(cid:0)o(cid:0)Ht(cid:4)>i(cid:3)(cid:4)r(cid:0) oko of Chiba University, who saved me
from countless errors in my research on juvenile crime and also intro
duced me to other experts working on the problem. Ishida Hiroshi and
þÿ(cid:0)S(cid:0)a(cid:0)Kt(cid:4)>a(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:0) oru have been most generous hosts at the University of Tokyo's
Institute of Social Science, and the late þÿ(cid:0)S(cid:0)a(cid:0)St(cid:4)>e(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:0)i zaburo of the National
Graduate Institute for Policy Studies kindly helped me on this project
during my affiliation there in 1999. This book would not have been pos
sible without their help.
Each of the cases reported in the book was a struggle for me, and the
reader has been spared at least some of my errors due to the sharp eyes
of several colleagues who kindly took the time to provide their reactions.
Leonard Schoppa, Peter Katzenstein, Derek Hall, and an anonymous
referee for Cornell read the entire manuscript and gave crucial com
ments on the book's structure and logic. Thomas Berger, Andrew DeW it,
Sharon Kinsella,Jonathan Lewis, Manuel Metzler, Laura Miller, Howard
Schweber, Ethan Scheiner,Joe Soss, Kay Warren, andJ ulia Yonetani (who