Sexual Violence and the Law in Japan

This book provides a detailed examination of judicial decision-making in Japanese cases involving sexual violence. It describes the culture of 'eroticised violence' in Japan, which sees the feminine body as culpable and the legal system which encourages homogeneity and conformity in decision-making and shows how the legal constraints confronting women claiming sexual assaults are enormous. It includes analysis of specific case studies and a discussion of recent moves to address the problem.

Born in Manchester, Catherine Burns is a graduate of Trinity College, University of Cambridge. She worked as a bond trader in London before studying at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography and teaching film theory at the University of Salford. The Visitors is her debut novel.

Prelude: Rape v Murder - or (Excessive) Self-Defence?  1. Legal Storytelling and Sexual Violence  2. Hegemonic Masculinity and Guilty Feminine Bodies  3. Confronting the Japanese Criminal Justice System  4. Credibility in the Court: Scripting Rape  5. 'In Truth She Was Probably Very Drunk': Women Subject to Scrutiny  6. Markers of Truth: Silencing Women in the Court  7. Subversive Stories and Feminist Strategies  8. Conclusion