Think Global, Fear Local: Sex, Violence, and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan (review)

David Leheny has written a provocative and highly readable treatise on the impact of international norms in Japan. Focusing on the norms against child prostitution and those of antiterrorism, Leheny shows how these norms were internalized in Japan against the background of widespread local fears that did not exactly correspond to those that had inspired the international norms. By clarifying how international norms adjust or change depending on the specific social context of the time and place of internalization, this book makes an important contribution to the constructivist theory of international relations as well as interdisciplinary scholarship on the impact of international norms on Japan.

Although the constructivist theory of international relations dates from the 1980s, it did not become fashionable until the 1990s. Studies of the impact of international norms on Japan have a much longer intellectual history. The most well known, if not the first, episode in the importation of international legal norms into Japan occurred in the last decade of the nineteenth century when Japan was busy establishing the rule of law as a prerequisite for a civilized nation. Japanese lawyers translated European laws and constitutions literally overnight and made them the law of the new nation after the Meiji Restoration. It was therefore inevitable at a time of such rapid changes in legal norms that people's perceptions of the norms were different from what the law said on paper. In a renowned book, the late Kawashima Takeyoshi documented such divergences.¹

Following World War II, Japan experienced another shock wave of international and foreign norms that were literally implanted. For example, Ehud Harari carefully documented how leftists in Japan relied on international labor standards to bring Japanese labor standards into conformity with international norms.² More recently, Yuji Iwasawa analyzed how international human rights standards made an indelible imprint on how Japan treats foreigners.³ Jennifer Chan-Tiberghien and I have also identified similar impacts (as well as missed opportunities) in children's and women's rights.⁴ Thus, it is firmly established that Japan is particularly amenable to the importation and usage of international norms. Therefore, the fact that Leheny found similar phenomena in child prostitution and counterterrorism is not surprising. However, Leheny's contribution in this book is the slight twist he gives to the textbook theory of constructivism. In order to explain the twist, let me briefly review what the theory is.

By now, the theory of the diffusion of international norms and internalization has become the core of the constructivist theories of international relations. In a rough outline, the story goes as follows: "norms entrepreneurs" invent and try to internationally diffuse new norms. Through the medium of international law or more informal instruments and forums, such new norms are diffused across borders and are gradually received by an increasing number of countries. The most recalcitrant countries are penalized informally for refusing such international pressures by shaming and more formally by economic and diplomatic sanctions. Finally, even the most recalcitrant actors make concessions and sign onto international norms. Over time, these norms become internalized in the form of domestic legislation and practices. When these norms are no longer questioned, internalization is complete. Many case studies have documented and confirmed such patterns in various areas such as security, human rights, women's rights, and environmental protection.

However, perhaps due to their eagerness to demonstrate how international norms matter, constructivists have paid less attention to how these norms are adjusted or even contorted to fit local circumstances and the preferences of local actors. Leheny wanted to use case studies from contemporary Japan to shed some light on this area. He painstakingly shows that there had been fears in Japan about the rebellious kogaru (little girls) and their compensated dating behavior, fears about North Korea, and fear about crimes committed by foreigners in Japan, all prior to the reception of relevant international norms on child...