Scandal in Japan

Transgression, Performance and Ritual

Igor Prusa

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781032472485
• eBook ISBN: 9781000923445
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Journalism
• Index: Social Sciences

This book is an exploration of media scandals in contemporary Japanese society. In shedding new light on the study of scandal in Japan, the book offers a novel view of scandal as a specific mediatized ritual which follows moral disturbances throughout Japanese history. Media and society are analyzed largely in terms of social performances, while the focus is on how Japanese transgressors talk and act when explaining their scandals to the public. A detailed analysis of three case studies is provided: the drug scandal of the popular Japanese celebrity Sakai Noriko; the donation scandal centering the heavyweight politician Ozawa Ichir?; and the Olympus accounting fraud revealed by the British CEO Michael Woodford.

This book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese culture and society, anthropology, communication and media studies.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Endorsement Page
• Half Title page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Figures
• Series Editor’s Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Permissions
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Theoretical Background
• 3 Case Studies
• 4 Japanese Scandal as Social Ritual
• 5 Japanese Scandal as Media Product
• 6 Concluding Remarks
• Index