- Joined
- 15 Mar 2003
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You learn something new every day. I stumbled on this fantastic and surprising article about sexual harassment and domestic violence in Japan. Also interesting is how it mentions in passing that Japan has no mechanism for punitive damages in the legal system. Legal folks feel free to start a thread on that!
Some quotes from the author Yukiko Tsunoda, Attorney at Law
窶廡irst of all, unlike the laws in the U.S. and other countries, Japanese law does not say anything about sexual harassment and domestic violence. This means that Japanese society does not recognize the concepts of sexual harassment and domestic violence. As a result of the legal attitude and of similar social attitudes, we have not yet coined appropriate Japanese terms for these concepts.
窶懌?ヲthe Japanese criminal justice system has rejected recognizing domestic violence as a crime. Furthermore, our criminal justice system has validated a husband's "legal" right to rape his wife simply because she is his wife.
窶弑nfortunately, the vast majority of society is seemingly indifferent to this issue. I think that Japanese people must recognize how the issue of violence against women has been treated outside Japan and how very important the issue is not only for women but also for men and for Japanese society as a whole.
Please check out the full article at the following link.
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/newsite/main/law/tsunoda.html
Quite amazing stuff! I always knew Japan lagged a bit behind on women窶冱 issues, but I had no idea! I have been looking for more current info (as the article is from 1997) but have come up short. Anybody know of some other resources or have some reactions? I窶冦 still pretty stunned. I guess it goes to show that while you can, in 50 or so years, take a country from a pseudo-feudal agricultural society into the modern world, social change unfortunately takes much, much longer.
Women of Japan unite!
Some quotes from the author Yukiko Tsunoda, Attorney at Law
窶廡irst of all, unlike the laws in the U.S. and other countries, Japanese law does not say anything about sexual harassment and domestic violence. This means that Japanese society does not recognize the concepts of sexual harassment and domestic violence. As a result of the legal attitude and of similar social attitudes, we have not yet coined appropriate Japanese terms for these concepts.
窶懌?ヲthe Japanese criminal justice system has rejected recognizing domestic violence as a crime. Furthermore, our criminal justice system has validated a husband's "legal" right to rape his wife simply because she is his wife.
窶弑nfortunately, the vast majority of society is seemingly indifferent to this issue. I think that Japanese people must recognize how the issue of violence against women has been treated outside Japan and how very important the issue is not only for women but also for men and for Japanese society as a whole.
Please check out the full article at the following link.
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/newsite/main/law/tsunoda.html
Quite amazing stuff! I always knew Japan lagged a bit behind on women窶冱 issues, but I had no idea! I have been looking for more current info (as the article is from 1997) but have come up short. Anybody know of some other resources or have some reactions? I窶冦 still pretty stunned. I guess it goes to show that while you can, in 50 or so years, take a country from a pseudo-feudal agricultural society into the modern world, social change unfortunately takes much, much longer.
Women of Japan unite!