J. Mark Ramseyer

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John Mark Ramseyer (born 1954) is an American Professor of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is the author of over 10 books and 50 articles in scholarly journals.[1] He is co-author of one of the leading corporations casebooks, Klein, Ramseyer & Bainbridge, Business Associations, Cases and Materials on Agency, Partnerships, LLCs, and Corporations, now in its 10th edition.[2] In 2018 he was awarded Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in recognition of "his extensive contributions to the development of Japanese studies in the U.S. and the promotion of understanding toward Japanese society and culture."[3][4]

In 2021, Ramseyer came under scrutiny for his controversial article published in the International Review of Law and Economics which, drawing from contracts, attempted to discredit the testimony of comfort women conscripted under Japanese imperial rule.[5][6] He was criticized for his misrepresentations of Japanese sources and inaccurate citation practices.[7] Prominent academics found no historical evidence of the contracts in his article.[8][9] The article was supposed to be included in the journal’s March 2021 release, but the release has been suspended because of the criticism related to Ramseyer’s article. The journal issued an “expression of concern” and said the article was under investigation.[10]

Education and career[]

The child of Mennonite missionary parents, Ramseyer lived in Kyushu's Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan through the age of 18 and is fluent in Japanese. His father was Dr. Robert Lewis Ramseyer, an anthropology PhD who founded the Hiroshima Mennonite Church and authored Mission and the Peace Witness: The Gospel and Christian Discipleship and Sharing the Gospel. After clerking for Judge Stephen Breyer (then of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, later on the Supreme Court), Ramseyer practiced law at Chicago's Sidley & Austin. After teaching law at UCLA from 1986 to 1992, he moved first to the University Chicago School of Law and then, in 1998, to Harvard.[11] He has also taught at several Japanese universities including the University of Tokyo, Hitotsubashi University, and Tohoku University.[12]

Academic controversies[]

Comfort Women[]

In 2021, controversy arose when the International Review of Law and Economics published an online pre-print of an article by Ramseyer regarding the comfort women coerced into sexual servitude in Japanese military brothels in the 1930s and 1940s.[13] Ramseyer described the comfort women as prostitutes, arguing that they "chose prostitution over those alternative opportunities because they believed prostitution offered them a better outcome."[14][15][16] Over a thousand economists signed a letter stating that the article misconstrued game theory and economics to give "cover to legitimize horrific atrocities," and that the "article goes well beyond mere academic failure or malpractice in its breach of academic standards, integrity, and ethics."[17] Economists and Nobel laureates Alvin Roth and Paul Milgrom wrote that the article "reminded [them] of Holocaust denial."[18][19] Several academic historians of Japan, writing in a peer-reviewed journal, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, checked Ramseyer's sources and found that "he cites, as supporting evidence, historical scholarship which argues the opposite of his claims," and argued that the paper should be retracted on grounds of academic misconduct.[20] In light of these critiques, the International Review of Law and Economics issued an "Expression of Concern" regarding the validity of Ramseyer's piece, and postponed publication of the print version of the issue in question until such time as scholarly replies to Ramseyer's piece could be gathered and added to the issue for context.[21]

1923 Massacre of Koreans[]

In 2019, a book chapter written by Ramseyer titled "Privatizing Police: Japanese Police, the Korean Massacre, and Private Security Firms" was accepted for publication in the forthcoming Cambridge Handbook on Privatization. In the original draft of the chapter, Ramseyer relied on contemporary Japanese-language newspaper accounts to claim that in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake ethnic Koreans "torched buildings, planted bombs, poisoned water supplies, murdered, pillaged and raped."[22] Ramseyer argued that "young Koreans were a high crime group in Japan," and suggested that the massacre of Koreans at the hands of Japanese police in the chaos that followed the earthquake may have been partially justified.[23] When scholars disputed the accuracy of these claims, the Handbook's co-editor Alon Harel asserted that the chapter would be significantly revised prior to publication, calling the disputed content "an innocent and very regrettable mistake on our part," and adding, "We assumed that Professor Ramseyer knows the history better than us. In the meantime, we have learnt a lot about the events and we sent a list of detailed comments on the paper that were written by professional historians and lawyers."[24] Harel also said, "I genuinely regret that a misguided description of the history can be found now in the SSRN (and that we are associated with it), but I assure you that the mistake will not be repeated in the forthcoming volume."[24]

Burakumin[]

In 2019, Ramseyer published an article in the International Review of Law and Economics in which he argued that Burakumin is a "fictive identity" created in 1922.[25] This article provoked detailed rebuttals from a number of Japanese and western scholars.[26][27]

Selected publications[]

  • J. Mark Ramseyer, Second-Best Justice: The Virtues of Japanese Private Law (2015)
  • Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, The Fable of the Keiretsu: Urban Legends of the Japanese Economy (Univ. of Chi. Press 2006)
  • J. Mark Ramseyer & Eric B. Rasmusen, Measuring Judicial Independence: The Political Economy of Judging in Japan (Univ. of Chi. Press 2003)
  • Japanese Law: Readings in the Political Economy of Japanese Law (J. Mark Ramseyer ed., forthcoming, Routledge Revivals 2021)
  • J. Mark Ramseyer, Book Review, Japanese Stud. (Oct. 23, 2020) (reviewing R.W. Kostal, Laying Down the Law: The American Legal Revolutions in Occupied Germany and Japan (2019))
  • J. Mark Ramseyer, Social Capital and the Problem of Opportunistic Leadership: The Example of Koreans in Japan[28] (John M. Olin Ctr. for L. Econ. & Bus. Discussion Paper No. 1043, Oct. 2, 2020)
  • J. Mark Ramseyer, Contracting for Compassion in Japanese Buddhism[29] (Harv. John M. Olin Ctr. Discussion Paper No. 1039, Sept. 10, 2020)
  • J. Mark Ramseyer & Eric Rasmusen, Suing over Ostracism in Japan: The Informational Logic[30] (Aug. 29, 2020)

Publications related to comfort women[]

  • Ramseyer, J. Mark (March 2021). "Contracting for sex in the Pacific War". International Review of Law and Economics. 65. doi:10.1016/j.irle.2020.105971.
  • Ramseyer, Mark (January 12, 2021). "Recovering the Truth about the Comfort Women". Japan Forward.
  • Ramseyer, J. Mark (March 2019). "Comfort women and the Professors- Discussion Paper No. 995" (PDF). John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business, Harvard Law School.
  • Ramseyer, J. Mark (1991). "Indentured prostitution in imperial Japan: credible commitments in the commercial sex industry". The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization. Oxford University Press. 7 (1): 89–116. ISSN 8756-6222.

References[]

  1. ^ "J. Mark Ramseyer," curriculum vitae, Harvard Law School, http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/ramseyer/ramseyer2010cv.pdf, September 2010, viewed January 8, 2021.
  2. ^ Business Associations, Cases and Materials on Agency, Partnerships, LLCs, and Corporations, William Klein, J. Ramseyer, Stephen Bainbridge, West Academic Publishing (2018) ISBN 9781683285229.
  3. ^ Professor Mark Ramseyer to receive Order of the Rising Sun decoration
  4. ^ Order of the Rising Sun awarded to Professor Mark Ramseyer
  5. ^ Jeannie Suk Gersen (2021-02-26). "Seeking the True Story of the Comfort Women". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  6. ^ Youmi Kim and Mike Ives (2021-02-26). "A Harvard Professor Called Wartime Sex Slaves 'Prostitutes.' One Pushed Back". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  7. ^ "Supplement to Special Issue: Academic Integrity at Stake: The Ramseyer Article - Four Letters (Table of Contents)". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Retrieved 2021-07-06.
  8. ^ "Harvard professor sparks outrage after claiming Korean 'comfort women' worked as voluntary prostitutes, not sex slaves". The Independent. 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  9. ^ "Harvard professor sparks outrage with claims about Japan's 'comfort women'". the Guardian. 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  10. ^ Binkley, Collin (8 March 2021). "Harvard professor ignites uproar over 'comfort women' claims". CTV News. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  11. ^ "J. Mark Ramseyer," curriculum vitae, Harvard Law School, http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/ramseyer/ramseyer2010cv.pdf, September 2010, viewed January 8, 2021.
  12. ^ The Harvard Crimson February 5, 1998 Archived December 31, 2010, at WebCite
  13. ^ ""Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War": The Case for Retraction on Grounds of Academic Misconduct". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 2021-02-18. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  14. ^ "Harvard professor invites fury by calling 'comfort women' prostitutes". The Straits Times. 2021-02-03. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  15. ^ "Harvard Prof Rejects Historical Consensus on 'Comfort Women'". Inside Higher Ed. 2021-02-16. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  16. ^ Jeannie Suk Gersen (2021-02-26). "Seeking the True Story of the Comfort Women". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  17. ^ "Letter by Concerned Economists Regarding "Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War" in the International Review of Law and Economics". Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Statement by Al Roth and Paul Milgrom" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-03-03. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ "Two Nobel Economics Prize winners say Ramseyer's paper reminds them of Holocaust denial". Hankyoreh. 2021-03-03. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  20. ^ ""Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War": The Case for Retraction on Grounds of Academic Misconduct". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  21. ^ Levien, Simon J.; Kim, Ariel H. (February 14, 2021). "Journal Delays Print Publication of Harvard Law Professor's Controversial 'Comfort Women' Article Amid Outcry". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  22. ^ Shim, Elizabeth (February 17, 2021). "Harvard professor's paper on Kanto Massacre angers South Koreans". United Press International. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  23. ^ Shim, Elizabeth (February 17, 2021). "Harvard professor's paper on Kanto Massacre angers South Koreans". United Press International. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b Song, Sang-ho (February 20, 2021). "Harvard professor Ramseyer to revise paper on 1923 massacre of Koreans in Japan: Cambridge handbook editor". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  25. ^ Ramseyer, J. Mark (November 6, 2019). "On the Invention of Identity Politics: The Buraku Outcastes in Japan". International Review of Law and Economics. 16 (1). doi:10.1515/rle-2019-0021.
  26. ^ Neary, Ian; Saito, Naoko (May 1, 2021). "Japan's Burakumin (Outcastes) Reconsidered: A Special Issue Refuting Ramseyer's Interpretation". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 19 (9).
  27. ^ Amos, Timothy D.; Ehlers, Maren; McKnight, Anne; Ambaras, David; Neary, Ian. "Doing Violence to Buraku History: J. Mark Ramseyer's Dangerous Inventions". Concerned Scholars.
  28. ^ "Social Capital and the Problem of Opportunistic Leadership: The Example of Koreans in Japan"
  29. ^ "Contracting for Compassion in Japanese Buddhism"
  30. ^ "Suing over Ostracism in Japan: The Informational Logic"

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