{"product_id":"lovesick-japan-2","title":"Lovesick Japan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn Lovesick Japan, Mark D. West explores an official vision of love, sex, and marriage in contemporary Japan.\u003c\/b\u003e A comprehensive body of evidence—2,700 court opinions—describes a society characterized by a presupposed absence of physical and emotional intimacy, affection, and personal connections. In compelling, poignant, and sometimes horrifying court cases, West finds that Japanese judges frequently opine on whether a person is in love, what other emotions a person is feeling, and whether those emotions are appropriate for the situation. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSometimes judges' views about love, sex, and marriage emerge from their presentation of the facts of cases. Among the recurring elements are abortions forced by men, compensated dating, late-life divorces, termination fees to end affairs, sexless couples, Valentine's Day heartbreak, \"soapland\" bath-brothels, and home-wrecking hostesses. Sometimes the judges' analysis, decisions, and commentary are as revealing as the facts. Sex in the cases is a choice among private \"normal\" sex, which is male-dominated, conservative, dispassionate, or nonexistent; commercial sex, which caters to every fetish but is said to lead to rape, murder, and general social depravity; and a hybrid of the two, which commodifies private sexual relationships. Marriage is contractual; judges express the ideal of love in marriage and proclaim its importance, but virtually no one in the court cases achieves it. Love usually appears as a tragic, overwhelming emotion associated with jealousy, suffering, heartache, and death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Mark D. West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43573356495030,"sku":"9780801461026","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0251\/4980\/0541\/files\/9780801461026.jpg?v=1729174456","url":"https:\/\/combined-academic.myshopify.com\/products\/lovesick-japan-2","provider":"Combined Academic Publishers - Mare Nostrum Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}