“This is a wonderful, original, erudite, interesting, creative, and insightful book. Making equal use of quantitative methods and television kitsch, Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle examines the mixture of legal and social norms that play a role in the emergence and resolution of scandals in the U.S. and Japan. Some passages are laugh-out loud funny, others head-scratchingly profound. It will create stir, become the subject of debate, be imitated and admired, subject to careful criticism and bountiful praise.”

Eric Feldman, University of Pennsylvania Law School

“An insider’s knowledge and an outsider’s ironic detachment: this book has it all. Mark West has written a book that is both fun to read and a fundamental contribution to our understanding of law and society in Japan. Not just for Japanologists, Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle is a model of how to understand the underside of modern societies.”--James Q. Whitman, Yale Law School

James Q. Whitman

“This original comparative study of national scandals in Japan and the United States highlights the dynamic relationships that exist between the law, news media, and cultural values in these two countries. West brushes aside many of the usual ‘cultural’ arguments about Japan and the United States, thereby avoiding the tired clichés of  ’Japaneseness’ so many writers put at the center of studies of cultural difference. What emerges instead is an important and pathbreaking examination of the players who create scandal, the institutions that make up the playing ground, and the rules that control the various scandal ‘games.’”--William Johnston, Wesleyan University

William Johnston

"Secret, Sex, and Spectacle stands out by its lively style, lucidity, and erudition. It should appeal to anyone interested in scandal, Japan, or the interaction of society, culture, and law in norm enforcement. In West’s engaging book, scandal both reveals the inner logic of Japanese society and plays a central role in its public life."

Ari Adut | Law & Society Review

"West is . . . encyclopedic in his knowledge of popular culture in both countries and clearly enjoys sharing the juicy parts. . . . [The book] provides intriguing if idiosyncratic portraits of Japanese and American behavior by combining analytic perspectives that are rarely related to each other."

Frank K. Upham | Journal of Japanese Studies

"This contribution to the comparative study of law in everyday life is richly detailed, entertaining, and insightful."

Mark D. Jacobs | American Journal of Sociology