Japan as a victim of comparative law

Japan has a very peculiar place in the framework of comparative law in general. It is often praised as a case of successful ground for legal transplants, as it was able to adopt and adapt Western (whatever that means) legal models in a Confucian (again, whatever that means) country. On the other hand, its depiction is more than occasionally stereotypical, based on old and surpassed scholarship which over-emphasizes Japanese “cultural uniqueness.” This paper deals with the problems related to the representation of Japan in comparative law.