Mathieu Deflem is Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina, USA. His research and teaching interests include law, social control, popular culture, and sociological theory, areas in which he has published widely.Hiroshi Takahashi is Professor in the Graduate School of Law at Kobe University, Japan. His specialties include socio-legal studies, alternative dispute resolution, the legal profession, and the history of judicial statistics.Dimitri Vanoverbeke is Professor in the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics at The University of Tokyo, Japan. He specializes in the sociology of law and the participation of lay citizens in the criminal procedure in modern and contemporary Japan.Jason G. Karlin is Professor in Interdisciplinary Information Studies at The University of Tokyo, Japan. He specializes in media and cultural studies and has published extensively on celebrity culture in Japan.

• Introduction: Japanese Perspectives on Law and Culture; Mathieu Deflem Part I. INSTITUTIONS Introduction to Part I; Hiroshi Takahashi Chapter 1. Constitution and Legal Culture in Japan: A Systems Theoretical Interpretation of the Japanese Constitutional Crisis of 2015; Takemitsu Morikawa Chapter 2. Law as a Reason for Action and Inaction: The Case of Japan; Masaki Abe Chapter 3. Gender Inequality and the Legitimacy of Japan’s Shared Surname System: An Analysis of Law Textbooks; Hiroshi Takahashi Chapter 4. Access to Courts in Japan: A Gender Perspective; Kyoko Ishida Part II. JUSTICE Introduction to Part II; Dimitri Vanoverbeke Chapter 5. Policing of the People, By the People, and For the People? Obeying the Law and Conforming to Peers in Japan; Kiyoshi Abe Chapter 6. Cannabis Law Reform in Japan: Going With or Against the Tide?; David Brewster Chapter 7. Lay Judges and the Hesitant Shift in Japan’s Criminal Trial Culture; Dimitri Vanoverbeke Chapter 8. Judges and Wrongful Convictions in Japan: A Study of Judicial Culture; Makoto Ibusuki and David T. Johnson Chapter 9. Violence Against Women in Japan: A Review of Recent Trends and the Implications of Victimization Survey Results; Masahiro TsushimaPart III. MEDIAIntroduction to Part III; Jason G. Karlin Chapter 10. Entertainers and Agents in Japan and Asia: Who’s Working for Whom?; Dan Rosen Chapter 11. Regulation and Negotiation: A Case Study on Sexual Expressions in Japanese Boys’ Love Manga and TV Drama; Wei-Jung ChangChapter 12. Media Incitements in Japan: Social Contagion, Self-Harm, and Freedom of Expression; Jason G. Karlin Chapter 13. Post-Populism Legislation: Criminal Policy in Japan since the 2010s; Wei Guo