This is a superb book that explores the interaction of law, society and culture over a range of intriguing topics. In seven captivating case studies, Mark West shows how law influences people's behavior and perceptions in everyday situations. Rather than trumping law, social norms are powerfully shaped by it. We learn that Japanese respond to incentives and penalties in ways very similar to people in other societies.
Readers who savor a unique and mystified Japan steeped in timeless customs are in for a jarring shock to their assumptions. West writes that "Japan cannot be boiled down to a few exotic Japanese keywords that explain everyone's behavior, and attempts to do so often result in beautiful models of circular reasoning."
By choosing themes off the beaten track of legal analysis, West demonstrates that even the quirkiest phenomena can be analyzed. He "examines the incentives created by law and legal institutions in everyday lives, the ways in which law intermingles with social norms, historically engrained ideas, cultural mores, and the phenomena that cannot easily be explained." And he does so in a delightfully engaging manner.