[2011.06.02] Japan and sex Waltzing into bedrooms and brothels 日本与性.docVIP

Japan and sex 日本与性 Waltzing into bedrooms and brothels 昂首阔步走进卧房和妓院 A new book on love and the law in Japan 一本关于日本爱情和法律的新书 Jun 2nd 2011 | from the print edition Lovesick Japan: Sex, Marriage, Romance, Law. 为爱所困的日本：性事?婚姻?浪漫?法律 By Mark West. Cornell University Press; 259 pages; $29.95 and ￡19.95. Buy from A, Amazon.co.uk ON FEBRUARY 19th 2006 Kimiko and her married lover Tetsuo checked into an Osaka love-hotel, swallowed sedatives and slit their wrists. When they awoke at midnight and realised their suicides had failed, Tetsuo strangled Kimiko at her request, then tried to hang himself and cut his wrists again. Unsuccessful, he called the police. At the trial, where an American court would consider questions of intent, the Japanese court based its ruling on whether Kimiko was in love. If she was, the court reasoned, she may have consented to her murder and Tetsuo would receive a lighter sentence. 2006年2月19日，Kimiko（きみこ、貴実子）和她的已婚爱人Tetsuo（てつお、哲男）住进大阪的一家情人旅馆，服下镇静剂并划破手腕。当他们在午夜醒来发现自杀失败后，Tetsuo应Kimiko的要求勒死了她，接着他试图上吊并再次割腕。仍未成功，他打电话报警。在其审判中，相对美国法院通常会考虑质疑其动机，日本法院是以Kimiko是否身陷爱河做为审判依据。如果她是，法院则推断，她可能同意自己被杀，而Tetsuo会得到较轻的判决。 Many facets of Japan seem mysterious to outsiders. Courts are sometimes obliged to seek answers to questions about love that may well be unanswerable. Yet in cases where love might indeed have a bearing, such as divorce, judges usually ignore the emotion entirely. Teasing out the mysteries of Japanese society by way of its statutes is the speciality of Mark West, a professor at Michigan Law School. 对外人而言，日本的许多方面似乎参悟不透。有时，法院有义务为关于爱情的问题寻求答案，而这一问题很可能是无法作答的。但在爱情可能确实相关的案件，比如离婚案中，法官常常对这种感请毫不理睬。经由日本法律理出其社会奥秘的头绪，正是密歇根法学院教授Mark West的专长。 In “Lovesick Japan” he trolls through 2,700 court opinions to paint a picture of a country that treats marriage more as an economic contract than an emotional bond. As seen by the judiciary, a little adultery should not trump marriage as an institution. “Japanese courts have no problem waltzing into bedrooms and brothels in wa